After the recap page, we open with the Two in One reporters who decide to bring us a “Special Report,” and reveal that Spider-Man has been arrested and taken into custody by the police (as seen in issue #585). The reporters then say how this could have huge developments in tomorrow’s mayoral election, and that the outcome could favor Hollister, who has been suffering in the polls because of the “Spider-Tracer Killer” remaining at large. (As though people who had been reading the arc so far needed reminding). The reporters then cut to their special guest commentator, J. Jonah Jameson, who is live at Manhattan’s Fifth Precinct for a response. Jonah just calmly smiles and whistles a cheerful tune (classic!). The reporters, saying it appears they lost Jameson, decide to look at other noteworthy superhero arrests as they try to get him back. (Ha!)
After we get a brief two panel spread of Spidey being brought in and being hounded by reporters (and note, the cops haven’t unmasked him) we then cut back to an episode of the Wire…I mean Carlie, Vin, and Al O’Neil outside Peter and Vin’s apartment at the moment Carlie learned that the cops were involved in the Spider-Tracer Killings. After Al again ridicules Vin for hiding the tracers under his bed, Carlie asks how many other cops are involved. O’Neil doesn’t like her tone, and Carlie rebuts that it’s because she just found out that her friend is part of a group of cop serial killers. Vin gets defensive and says that no one has actually been killed, that they just planted the tracers on people who were already dead, and then (as if we didn't already realize what a naive dope he is) laughably states they haven’t done anything illegal. Carlie rightly points out they’ve tampered with evidence, obstructed justice, and committed fraud, to which Al defends this by saying that Spider-Man is a vigilante who interferes with their work, that they wanted public opinion against him so they could get him off the streets and do their jobs (Okay, first of all, wasn’t there more than enough evidence to haul him in because of his violation of the SHRA? Wasn’t public opinion already mixed about him thanks to years of Jameson slamming him in the press? And their motive is all about not looking like the Keystone Cops? What about those times Spidey’s helped your ungrateful asses, Mr. “We cops can’t do our jobs if Spidey is on the loose”?).
Before Vin can tell his partner to shut up, Carlie says, to their shock, that she wants in. She explains that Al has a point--that Spider-Man has been breaking the law for years, violating criminals civil rights, making cops look like chumps, and everyone looked the other way only until the “Spider-Tracer Murders” started. She says she became a cop to punish people who break the law, and Spider-Man is breaking the law. Vin asks about her sudden turn around (because lets face it, they would have to be REALLY stupid to believe that Carlie would make such a convincing 180 degree change of heart in that short of time) in which she replies that sometimes you have to break the law to uphold it, giving the rationalization that cops still beat confessions out of suspects. She offers to help hiding the Spider-Tracers, and Al tells her they’ll think about it as he and Vin leave.
Meanwhile, Spidey is in the 5th Precinct House with the Chief of Police, Palone, who asks Spidey who he is (and no, Spidey still hasn’t been unmasked yet). Spidey gives him the usual patented Spidey banter. Palone decides that now would be the best time to unmask Spidey, but just before he’s about to, Matt Murdock appears (Seriously, did anyone think that after all the trouble Marvel went through to restore Spidey’s identity, they would blow it now?) Anyway, Matt tells Palone that Spider-Man is his client, that he will not be unmasked until a court decides otherwise, that his client will exercise his right to remain silent (which he adds no matter how difficult it may be for him, HA!), that he’ll be booked without having his fingerprints taken, and if Palone doesn’t comply, his client will sue the precinct. Palone and his men leave, informed of a visitor in his office and tells the guards to arrange for Spider-Man to be moved to Rykers.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Matt talk, and it’s revealed that Spidey could easily have broken loose from his restraints at any time, and Spidey is all but ready to do so before anyone decides to unmask him. However, Matt tells Spidey that if he does escape, it will just be worse. He’s already in violation of the SHRA, and Palone could easily make a phone call and make it a federal case, thus putting his loved ones and family at risk when the FBI and SHILED (so I guess this is before Norman Osborn takes over?) takes him down. He tells Spider-Man to wait until he gets him out.
Palone’s visitor turns out to be Carlie Cooper is there and she tells Palone all that she knows about the Spider-Tracer Killer conspiracy, that the victims were all unrelated murders that cops were placing Spider-tracers on after the fact. (Wow. So even though Carlie knows there’s more than two cops involved, she goes ahead and informs about this to the chief when she only has two names thus far?) The chief asks Carlie why she’s willing to blow the whistle on other cops, and Carlie says she “became a cop to punish people who break the law.”
Later, we see Spider-Man in a cell at Rykers when a guard shows up to give him a clean Spidey suit for his hearing, compliments of Matt Murdock. The guard tells him he hopes it goes okay for Spidey and when asked why, the guard says that he used to be on the NYPD before his leg was injured in a bank robbery. Apparently, it was being robbed by Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man managed to stop him. The guard says that if Spidey hadn’t shown up, then he would have lost more than his leg and his two girls would have lost their daddy. (awwww…
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From there we get a brief panel of Spidey in court pleading “Not guilty.” This is followed by the newscasters, while sarcastically shocked over the plea, genuinely surprised that Spider-Man was not unmasked. And we get a footnote telling us to read “The Spartacus Gambit” free at Marvel.com to learn what exactly happened (You know, the one that was in Amazing Spider-Man Extra #1?) Watching the newscast is Hollister and Lily. After Hollister makes a crack about Murdock, Lily tells her father that tomorrow (geez when is this election?) will be mayor, and that the polls indicate that he’s favored to win thanks to the “Spider-bump,” or what they are calling Spider-Man’s arrest. Lily says that’s what she’s calling it, but it will soon catch on, saying “You know me daddy…anything I can do to help” And we get a symbolic image of her with one of her eyes like Menace.
Meanwhile, we see Vin talking to Jimmy McNulty…I mean his partner Al O’Neil about Carlie--who Vin insists is not his girlfriend even though Al sarcastically calls her that. Al basically states the obvious that Carlie was saying a bunch of B.S. about joining them to by some time to get away from them, and AGAIN criticizes Vin for leaving the tracers under his bed (jeez we get the point. Vin is an idiot, okay!) They then get a radio dispatch and Al gets an off speaker message from Chief Palone. He then tells Vin than warrants have been issued out for both Carlie and Vin’s arrest in aiding and abetting Spider-Man in the Spider-Tracer Killings (So Carlie ratted them out on a guy who happened to also be in on the conspiracy. Nice work there, Ms. “Serpico”
. After Al then tells Vin that he saw Vin in possession of the tracers and that Julian Beck at C.S.U built the tracer tracker for her, Vin realizes he and Carlie are being set-up (yeah, pretty slow on the up take there, Vin). Al then pulls his gun on Vin, telling him he doesn’t know how deep he’s stepped in it, saying Palone has been twitchy ever since…and we get a series of interrupts of Vin asking why is Palone so freaked because all they did was the tracers on bodies. That’s when it FINALLY dawns on Vin that the STK cops have killed someone, and Al FINALLY tells Vin that they bumped off the Bookie because he figured out that all of the “victims” were found by uniformed officers working out of their Precinct. Soon, Al forces Vin to pull over in front of a roadblock of police and is read his rights (And like Spidey, he doesn't pass Go and doesn't collect $200 dollars, either.
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Meanwhile, back at Rykers, Spider-Man is going back to his cell where the guard observes that Spidey could have broken out anytime (as if we didn’t already know) and Spidey tells him that a friend told him not to. The guard says it’s just as well because there’s at least a hundred other guys he would have to go through, including some D-list super villains who were transferred from the Raft. Suddenly, Spidey sees Vin being escorted past his cell. Spidey asks what a cop like Vin is doing here, and the guard doesn’t really know, saying Vin’s “going to be real popular in the general population.”
An hour later, Spidey tells Matt that the situation has changed. We then get four John Romita Jr. panels of scenes from “The Spartacus Gambit” in which Matt hands Spidey the law book right before he goes into his civil suit. This is interrupted (AGAIN!) by those Two in One news commentators (seriously, this is getting real annoying) who then show ANOTHER Romita scene from “Spartacus Gambit” of the “Spider-Men” who showed up. This is followed by FOUR MORE PANELS from that story as depicted by Romita Jr., this time of Spidey getting a spare web shooter.
We then cut to Norman Osborn tallying up his Goblin equipment in the secret storeroom behind the bookcase, making a mental note that a goblin glider, a pneumatic dart gun, a pair of goblin gloves, and a goblin mask are missing. Norman notes this is the biggest raid on this place yet and that Harry didn’t bother hiding his tracks “this time” (yes, he still thinks Harry is Menace) which means Harry’s bolder than he’s given credit for, or that he was wrong about who has been raiding his stash (or at least, realizing Harry is not Menace after all).
We then cut back to Spidey in Rykers where he hears a commotion. He looks out his cell to see Vin getting surrounded and beat up by a bunch of prisoners. Spidey decides to rescue Vin, and to do that, he shoots his web onto his neck collar which apparently inhibits his spider strength (Wait a second! It's been stated twice now that Spidey could have "broken out any time he wanted," and now we find out that that collar he's been wearing saps his strength? Even though in an earlier scene,
we clearly see that he's almost broken loose from his restraints despite wearing that same the inhibitor collar? 
), wraps the webbing around his bed, and, using his foot as a lever, attempts to force the collar off. And for a moment, as he tears the collar off (while appropriately quoting Archimedes) Spidey blacks out. In the meantime, Vin is getting the crap beat out of him, each one begging for their turn. Suddenly, a cry of “Hey Sailors!” gets their attention. It’s Spider-Man, saying he’ll be taking Vin while they can go back to their nightly Parcheesi game (uh, how does that quip match with the sailors comment?). The issue ends on a cliffhanger with the inmates closing in on Spidey.
