Right now, he has been presented with an interesting opportunity. A cloaked figure stood before him. He had appeared out of nowhere, with a mist of smoke surrounding him.

Jameson had been sitting at his desk, reading over the latest Daily Planet to make sure everything jived with his opinion when the mysterious figure entered. Now, Jameson found himself hanging upside down. However, gravity wasn't pulling him down, which surprised him.

The figure before him was dressed in a green outfit covering his entire body, with pencil thin black lines crisscrossing all over. He had a purple cloak, and had a glass bowl over his head. Jameson could see a green haze, something resembling a face inside the bowl.

"Mr. Jameson," the man said, in a deep, echoing voice. "I am Mysterio. I have something which I want you to print two days from now in the Daily Planet."

Jameson frowned. "Why should I?"

Mysterio snapped his fingers, and Jameson fell to the floor. "I control illusion, a much more powerful tool than reality."

Jameson panicked. "Ok-okay!" he stammered. "I'll print it! Just turn the room back to the way it was!"

Mysterio snapped his fingers a second time and the Jameson found himself sitting back at his desk, just as before Mysterio had been there. The only difference was that an envelope address to him was sitting on his desk.

"Like I'm really going to wait!" Jameson thought, and began to open it.

Mysterio reappeared behind him and grabbed his shoulder. "Two days, no more," he said, disappearing again.

Peter marched up to Perry White's office and walked right in.

"Mr. White!" he said, lifting the paper, pointing to the headline. "What is this trash? Who's this Jameson guy who thinks Spider-Man is a menace?"

Perry sighed. "Kid, J. Jonah Jameson is the owner of the Daily Planet. He can put in whatever he wants. I wish I could have stopped him."

Peter mellowed a bit and lowered the paper. "Oh, sorry," he said.

Perry smiled. "No need to be, son. You didn't know, besides, Spider-Man is what got you your job. You're bound to be defensive. Now, do you have any pictures for me?"

"Not yet, Mr. White."

"Then I want you to go with Lois to the First National Bank. That was the last target of Spider-Man's robberies."

"Alleged robberies," Peter said. "I haven't seen much proof yet."

"Parker, he was caught on tape."

Peter's heart sank as he walked out into the City Room.

Lois was deep into the video feed when Peter walked up.

"Hey, Lois," he said.

Lois looked up, startled, and smiled. "Peter! What brings you to my desk?"

"Mr. White asked us to go to First National Bank to investigate the Spidey sightings," Peter replied.

Lois stood up and grabbed her purse and notebook. "Good. I was about to go down there myself. Sure you can handle this by yourself? Without Jimmy?"

Peter smiled. "Yeah, I think I've learned quite a bit. Besides, it's time I start taking pictures on my own. I did get those exclusive Joker shots," he emphasized

Lois began walking to the elevator. "Kid, you can't ride on the success of that."

Peter nodded his head as the elevator stopped on their floor. "Oh, I know. But, it was enough to get me a job."

Lois and Peter stepped onto the elevator. "Peter, you're going to fit in perfectly here," Lois said, pushing the button beside the door for the ground level.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I am Spider-Man! You will give me your money now!" he exclaimed, webbing up several bankgoers and tellers. He leaped over the counter and began to search the tellers for the keys to the safe deposit boxes.

Meanwhile, the henchmen rounded the patrons up into one corner and tied them up. A second group forced the bank officials out and tied them up separately.

Spider-Man walked to the safe deposit box vault and opened it. He walked over to one box, inserted the bank key, and then punched the other lock. The door opened on that and the other surrounding boxes.

While the Spider-Man and his henchmen cleaned out the vault, police sirens grew louder. Within five minutes, the police had arrived at the scene, and Spider-Man had left.

"Lois, Peter!" he exclaimed, out of breath. "I just saw it! Another bank has been robbed!"

Lois's ears perked up and she raised her eyebrows. "Continue, Jimmy."

"It's the Second Municipal Bank branch at Third and Park Avenue," Jimmy replied.

Lois looked at Peter. "Guess we have to change our plans."

Peter looked back. "Sure. But Jimmy, who robbed the bank?"

"Spider-Man!"

"Chief," she acknowledged, holding out her hand. The police chief, knowing Lois from many interviews, took her hand and shook it. "Chief," Lois repeated, "how long ago did this happen?"

"Well, as near as we can tell, Spider-Man and his henchmen attacked this bank about an hour or so ago."

Peter tensed when he heard the police chief speak those words. "Jimmy," he asked, "how long before you got to the Planet did you see the robbery?"

Jimmy looked up, thinking. "Let's see. I stopped to take pictures of them running away, and then ran back, getting stopped here and there." Jimmy turned his head back to face Peter. "I'd say about fifteen or twenty minutes."

"And then it took five minutes to get a taxi, another thirty to get through the traffic," Peter mumbled.

"What's that?" Jimmy asked.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just figuring."

"Okay," Jimmy said, wearily, walking over to Lois and the chief.

Peter stared at the webbing on the counter in front of him. He knew that his own webbing disintegrated within an hour of using it. The substance in front of him seemed to still have its original properties. It was just the same as it had been when it had been shot out of a webshooter. Peter took some more pictures. A police officer came over.

"Excuse me," Peter said. "I'm a science student, and this webbing is really fascinating. Is there by any chance that I can get some to study?"

"Well, it's evidence in the case. However, if you leave your name and a phone number, then when the case is closed, we can give some to you."

Peter thought for a second. Would it really do him any good afterwards? He weighed the options. This fake stuff could last a while, and maybe be useful against some enemies. However, it would not put him on the track of the imposter, as the case would be closed by then. Peter decided that it was more good to get a sample whenever he could, before or after the case was closed. He quickly pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, and jotted down his name, his home phone, and a Daily Planet number, just in case. Peter handed the paper to the cop.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem, man," the cop replied.

Peter could see that Lois and Jimmy were getting ready to leave, so he walked to the door. He could tell that they would be discussing the case for quite some time.

He laughed. "Ha! This is perfect! I can go around, committing robberies as Spider-Man, and no one will believe it's not him! Of course, this makes up for what happened the first time. It was pure luck that I was at the bank when Spider-Man opened his account! Now, I will empty all of the banks in the city! At the expense of his reputation!"

Mysterio laughed for a long time.

"The police chief says that Spider-Man was flanked by about a dozen or so henchmen dressed all in black," Lois said.

Peter shook his head. "That doesn't sound right. Why would Spider-Man need henchmen? He's never used them before."

"Hmmm. Interesting point," Lois replied.

"I looked at the sample of webbing that was left behind," Peter announced. "It was still there. Spider-Man's webbing usually disappears after an hour or do."

"So?" Jimmy asked. "Maybe Spidey changed his webbing."

"Still, it's a lead," Lois said.

"First National Bank isn't too far away. Should we still head over there?" Peter asked.

"What can we find there? The crime is way over, there's no hope of finding evidence," Jimmy retorted.

"Yes, but the people at the bank would know something," Lois replied. She leaned up to the driver, taking notice that they were near the street that the bank was on. "Cabbie, please take us to First National Bank."

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the cabbie replied. "No can do!"

"Why not?!" Lois exclaimed.

"Look!" the cabbie said, pointing to the intersection where they were supposed to turn at.

"It's gone!" Peter shouted.

Then the phone rang.

Perry jerked up and picked up the phone. "Perry White, Daily Planet," he answered.

Lois Lane was on the other end of the line. "Perry? This is Lois. Instead of going to First National Bank, we went to Second Municipal, where the latest robbery happened."

"Yes, and?"

"On our way back, we wanted to stop by First National. Anyway, we got to the intersection, and found that the street doesn't exist anymore!"

"What?!"

Meanwhile, across town, in the same police station that Spider-Man had been in only a week ago, depositing the Joker, the police were getting ready to transport said villain to another facility, better equipped to contain the madness of the Joker. The Joker had been quite testy, so he had been tranquilized. However, just as he was being loaded onto the truck, he woke up.

And he was mad!

He was wearing a straitjacket, and strapped onto a board which the cops were carrying. Joker began shaking violently and shaking the board, trying to get the officers to drop him.

However, the officers transporting him were very strong. Their grip could not be loosened easily.

The bigger of the two (although not by much) said to Joker, "Give it up, crazy guy. You're not getting away."

Joker grinned. "Wanna bet? You really think I would be unprepared for a situation like this?" He bit down, and the officers heard something shatter inside of the clown's mouth.

Suddenly, the second guy began laughing uncontrollably. "What's so . . . funny? . . . ha. Ha ha!" the first guy asked, slowing down, and then beginning to laugh himself.

The two dropped the Joker, and caused the bindings to come loose. As the officers fell down to the ground, Joker slipped out of the straitjacket, using a little trick he had learned long ago.

"Now, for my revenge on a little pesky arachnid!" he exclaimed.

At that moment, he saw a shadow fly over him. He looked up and saw a black creature moving across the sky.

"Hmmmm. Looks like there's a flying rodent in this town, too."

Joker used that as an omen to actually take the time to plan out his next attack on the wallcrawler.

End Interlude

He knew he had to change into Spider-Man, but how could he with Lois and Jimmy around? Suddenly, a solution entered his head.

Peter walked over to Jimmy, trying to look as sick as he could. "Hey, Jim. I don't feel too good. Could you take this camera and take pictures? I'm going to go sit down somewhere."

Jimmy took the camera and patted Peter on the back as he left. "I hope you feel better."

"Thanks!"

Peter walked over behind a building. Making sure no one was watching, he turned his suit on. The nano-machines flooded over his body, turning him into Spider-Man. He checked to see if the small camera was in the pouch around his waist. It was, and he set it.

Spidey swung back to where Jimmy was.

"Hey, I was in the area and saw something strange," he said. "What's wrong?"

"This street has disappeared!" Jimmy replied.

"Disappeared?" Spidey walked to where the intersection used to be and looked down. Something looked strange, almost like the road was hot. He carefully walked forward, down the middle of what should have been road.

"Odd," he thought. "This feels like pavement, even though it looks like grassland. And the farther I go in, the thicker the fog is."

As Spider-Man walked farther down the road, he noticed that the fog wasn't getting thicker because he was moved farther away from where Jimmy and Lois were standing. It was getting thicker, because it was increasing. He could barely make out Jimmy and Lois's silhouettes now.

"What craziness is this?" Spider-Man asked.

"It is not craziness, Spider-Man," a deep, echoing voice said. "It is illusion."

"This is madness!"

"NO! The madness is all in your mind!"

"Show yourself!" Spidey demanded, looking around, trying to find the body that was the source of the voice.

"Very well." Mysterio shimmered into view in front of Spider-Man.

"Who are you?" Spidey asked. "Why did you get rid of this street?"

"Who am I? I am Mysterio! And I didn't get rid of this street. I simply made an illusion to be bait."

"Bait? For what?"

"For you, Spider-Man. For you. I really have been waiting a while to do this. And now, I shall have my revenge!"

"Revenge? What revenge?" Spider-Man asked, looking at the cloaked figure in front of him.

"That is not important!" Mysterio shouted. "You are here, and now I can finally defeat you in person!"

"What the heck are you talking about?"

Mysterio clenched his fist and got in Spidey's face. "I have destroyed your reputation. And now, I will destroy you!"

Spider-Man finally put two and two together. "You're the one who's been impersonating me!" he exclaimed. "But why?"

Mysterio lifted his hand and a portal of sorts appeared. Spidey could see something happening on the other side. He saw the interior of a bank, and . . . himself? But the bank looked familiar. It was the bank in which he had set up an account back when he was a TV star!

"How can that be? I never held up a bank!" Spidey wondered aloud.

"Fool!" Mysterio shouted. "It is I, Mysterio, impersonating you! This is the first robbery that no one knows about."

"You!" Spider-Man hollered. "You're the one who emptied my bank account!" With that, Spidey leapt to Mysterio and began to punch him in the gut. Mysterio laughed and disappeared, only to reappear behind the arachnid and knock him down. All along, Spider-Man could hear the taunting of Mysterio. Mysterio would reappear, and Spidey would charge at him, only to fall down and find that it was an illusion.

Lois was still on the phone with Perry. "What is it, Jimmy?"

Jimmy looked through the camera lens, using the close-up feature. He could make out one of the people inside, but not the other. "It's Spider-Man!" he exclaimed.

"Perry," Lois said into the phone, "we have a Spider-Man sighting!"

"Is Parker there?" Perry asked.

Lois looked around. "He was just here. Jimmy, where's Peter?"

Jimmy, who was snapped pictures and watching the fight, explained without taking his eyes off of the sight in front of him. "He said he was getting sick or something, and he took off."

Lois relayed this to Perry.

"What--?! I pay him for pictures, and he can't deliver!"

Just then, the police pulled up.

Mysterio reappeared, standing over Spider-Man, who was laying on the ground. "Police! They'll ruin my plans! So long, Spider-Man! We'll meet again!"

Mysterio disappeared, and the illusion started to fade. Spidey quickly shot a webline and left before the street returned. He ducked behind a building, took the camera out of his suit, and then changed back into Peter Parker.

The cops looked at each other, and then to Lois and Jimmy. One of them stepped forward. "Well, Ms. Lane, it looks as if there is nothing we can do."

Lois nodded her head. "Thanks anyway."

The police climbed back into the squad car and drove off. Lois quickly finished her conversation with Perry and hung up.

At that moment, Peter came running up. "Lois! Jimmy! You'll never guess what I saw!"

Lois's expression turned to one of anger. "Peter! Where the heck have you been? Perry pays you to take pictures of news. Not run off in danger!"

"Lois! Calm down. I did get pictures."

"How?"

Peter pulled the small camera from his pocket. "A good photographer never carries around just one camera," he said, smiling. "I also heard what went on."

"Save it," Lois replied. "We have to get back to the Planet!"

"There you are! Where's the story?" Perry demanded as he walked in.

Lois handed him her story, which she had just typed up. Perry glanced over it and then looked at the two photographers.

"Well? Where are the pictures? I hope you have something to save your butt, Parker!"

"Yes, sir!" Peter said. "After I gave the camera to Jimmy, I used my small camera to take pictures from the other side. After all, a good photographer should always have a camera!"

Perry smiled. "Son, you may just be a great photographer yet! Now, get those down to the darkroom. Olsen, how long should it take to get developed?"

Jimmy thought for a second. "About an hour."

"Good."

"Uh, Mr. White?" Peter asked. "Could I run an errand during that hour?"

"If you're back when those pictures come back."

"Will do!"

"Spider-Man!" Hamilton exclaimed. "What may I help you with this time?"

"It's that camera thing again. I need it to detach. Can we make one of those?"

"Actually, I started working on one shortly after you left last time. It should be able to be contained within the nanosuit."

"How soon can it be installed?" Spidey asked.

Hamilton looked at the clock. "Half an hour, max."

"Let's get to work."

As he got closer to the Daily Planet building, he commanded the camera back into the suit and then he climbed into the globe on top of the building. Peter de-activated the Spidey suit and then walked down the stairs to the actual top floor. He got on the elevator and returned to the City Room.

Perry was walking around, looking at the pictures that had just been taken at the battle that morning.

"Wonderful!" he exclaimed. Then, he saw Peter and walked up to him. "Peter! Great pictures! Almost as if you were right up on Mysterio! You must give me quality like this all of the time!"

Peter smiled. "I'll try."

"These pictures run in the next edition. Meantime, take some time off. You deserve it."

Peter jumpped up off of the bed and quickly looked around his room for his electronic kit that Uncle Ben had gotten him for Christmas a few years ago. It was a fairly good Radio Shack set, not too expensive, but it had the materials that Peter needed for his solution.

He had already determined that the buzzing and tingling was a special early warning system. He now called it his "Spider Sense." He could make some devices that tuned into that frequency and be used as trackers. Next time he saw Mysterio, he would snag one in that cape and hope not to lose him.

Peter found the set under his bed and placed it on his desk. He had already formulated the plans in his head while he was searching for the kit, and now he was ready to build some Spider-tracers.

"Where is J. Jonah Jameson?" he said in his deep voice. "I must speak to him immediately!"

Perry White gulped. He could feel the sweat on his forehead. "Jameson is up in his office. Two floors up," he replied, pointing upwards.

Mysterio smiled underneath his helmet. "Thank you," he said. As he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, the City Room suddenly disappeared and everyone found themselves, falling out of the sky. Everyone panicked, thinking that they were skydiving.

"Something's wrong!"

Spider-Man swung to the Daily Planet. He changed into Peter and used the same procedure as before. When he reached the City Room, he saw the illusion.

"Mysterio!" he exclaimed, turning the spider costume back on. Spidey quickly shot out two weblines, hoping to touch the wall on the other side. He finally did, and tied the ends from his webshooters onto the rails of the elevator. He then webbed up the door so it wouldn't close. Shooting another set of webs to strengthen the first, Spidey stepped up onto the webbing and walked over to where the center of the room should have been.

Everyone else was experiencing falling. Spidey began to feel light-headed. He was in both worlds. He saw Perry and webbed him.

"Spider-Man!" Perry exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"Mysterio turned the City Room into a skydiving adventure! I must stop this illusion!"

Spider-Man looked around and saw two little cubes floating around. They had holes in each side. Spidey concluded that they must be controlling this illusion. As soon as he webbed them up, the City Room turned back to normal. Spidey set Perry down, and they shook hands.

"Hey, Spidey, Mr. White! Smile!" Jimmy Olsen shouted, holding up a camera, and then snapping a picture.

Spidey turned to Perry. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I must follow Mysterio."

"He's up two floors, talking to Jameson!"

"Y-yes, Mysterio," Jameson stammered. "Uh, good thing that you tipped me off to those Spider-Man robberies. I got first exclusive."

"Only because I let you," Mysterio retorted.

"Of course."

Just then, Mysterio was unable to look out the window. Something had just covered it up. Suddenly, the window caved in, and Spider-Man came through, kicking Mysterio back into the wall on the far side of the room.

"Spider-Man!" Mysterio shouted.

"Glad you remember me," Spidey replied, grabbing Mysterio by his shirt (or the top part of his suit) and surreptiously attaching a spider-tracer into his cloak. "Hope that you remember this!" he said as he tossed Mysterio out of the window.

As Mysterio flew out of the building, Spidey turned to Jameson. "So, Jameson, how are things today?"

"You menace! Stop him!"

"Seems like you're in a contradictory mood today," Spidey said, as he stood in the broken window. He tapped his right arm, just above his wrist, and then shot a webline, flying into the city. The camera detached and began to take pictures.

Mysterio suddenly reappeared, floating high above the city. It was then that Spider-Man realized that this battle would be taking place more than thirty stories up in the air.

The thought didn't stay with him long, because Mysterio punched him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. As he fell, he waiting for his lungs to inflate before shooting two weblines out to catch him. He was already down to the eighth story by the time this happened.

Spidey webbed back up and leapt, not at where Mysterio appeared to be, but at where the spider-tracer was telling him the illusionist was. Mysterio flew back, and then allowed himself to drop. Spidey followed, hoping to stop him.

However, at ground level, he was unable to find Mysterio. He relied on the tracer to tell him. Spider-Man looked around, trying to determine where the signal was strongest. He ran down the street, and the signal began to get stronger. Finally, he stood in front of a television studio. He rushed in, startling the people in the front lobby.

"Hello, folks!" he said, with a slight wave as he ran away. "Love to stay, but I have a villain to stop!"

Spidey ran down a series of corridors before coming to an office with the name of Quentin Beck on the door. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He backed up, and then charged the door. The impact shattered the door, and Spidey ran in, seeing a secret door in the floor, still halfway open.

He descended down into the secret catacombs below the studios. The signal continued to get stronger. Finally, he saw Mysterio running.

"Mysterio!" he shouted. "Come back here!"

Mysterio spun around, saw the wallcrawler, and ran even faster. Spidey shot out webbing and caught him by his ankles. He reeled him in, webbed him up, and hung him from the ceiling.

"Okay, Mysterio, I have some questions! Who is under that mask?" Spider-Man smashed the glass, and saw the green haze. Slowly, it vanished, and he saw a man with brown hair looking at him. "Who are you?"

"I am Quentin Beck, special effects master!" Mysterio said with confidence.

"Why did you want my money?" Spidey asked.

"I'm not telling you."

Spider-Man punched Beck in the face. "Tell me."

"Okay, okay. I needed it for some . . . activities I was going to be doing. I saw you come in that first day, and knew how easy it would be to duplicate your powers with smoke and mirrors. I needed money real bad, so I decided to take yours."

Spider-Man was now furious. "Where's my money?!" he shouted.

"I don't have it," Beck said, his voice shaky. "I never got it. Everyone thinks I did, but somehow, the money was gone when I got there, I just closed the account!"

"What do you mean, GONE?"

"Someone must have taken it out electronically just as I came in. I never touched it. That's why I robbed the rest of the banks as you."

"You son of a ---!" Spidey stopped himself as he decked Beck right in the jaw.

Just then, the cave started to shake.

"What's that?" Spidey asked.

"I don't know."

Spidey untied Beck and then began to run. He looked back to check up on Mysterio, but all he saw was rocks piling on top of him.

As he climbed up through the floor, he noticed that nothing had happened above ground.

"Interesting," he said, as he tried to find a way out.

"Peter, you are a great photographer. For someone who can take these great shots, I think I have the perfect assignment for you."

He quickly wrote down an address and some directions. "This is where Doctor Octavius is rumored to be staying since the accident a few months ago. I would like you to get some pictures."

Peter stared at the paper, shocked. No one had heard from Octavius since the accident. Plus, this was the guy who caused him to be Spider-Man.

Before Peter could think, he heard himself saying, "Sure, Mr. White, no problem."

Spidey took out his camera and snapped a few pictures. He put the camera away and stood up. However, the glass couldn't support him. Before he could shoot a web, he fell through the glass.

Laying on the floor, Spider-Man was hurting bad. He felt himself being pulled up. He felt Octavius's metal arms around him.

"Ahh, look, a little spider fell through our window," Octavius said. "Too bad that spiders don't get along with octopi!" He began laughing, and then through Spider-Man out of the front window. Dr. Octavius then returned to his own work.

Spider-Man lay on the ground outside, barely conscious. "Doctor . . . Octopus? Ohhh!" he said as the blackness surrounded him.

On the other side of the city, Joker returned to his warehouse that night, only to find that it had been torn down, by order of the police.

"Oh, well," Joker said. "One warehouse or the other, it makes no difference to me!"

Thus, he walked over to the next warehouse, and set up shop. What he didn't realize was that moments before he entered, someone else had been watching him, and had left a message.

"Oh goody! The postal service was able to forward my mail!"

Joker ran over and tore the envelope to pieces, allowing the trash to fall to the ground. He opened up the note and read it.

"A sea animal wants to make me into six sinisters?" he asked. He tried thinking about it, but his mind wandered to something else. Joker tossed the note and started dancing around the warehouse.

Up above, Doctor Octopus was looking down, and he buried his face in his right hand.