"Perry, what are you doing here?" Peter asked. He saw the editor of the newspaper standing in the hall near the front door, where Peter passed nearly every day on his way to the cafeteria.
"I needed to talk to you, and its on the way to the hospital," Perry replied.
"Is it about Lois?"
"Yes. I think Electro attacked her."
"Hmm," Peter replied.
"You figured it out too?"
"Yeah. But is there any proof?"
"Nothing other than the blown electricity."
"But the cops are probably too reality-minded to realize this," Peter concluded.
"Right now, they are. Well, I just wanted to let you know."
"I'll come by the hospital after school."
"Good. But don't stay long. It won't be good to have the entire staff there, sitting on their hands."
"Gotcha. Bye."
"Bye," Perry said as he walked away.
Jimmy stood in the lunch line, eyeing the mystery meat that was being served. Looks like pizza again, Jimmy thought happily. "Hey, Harry, better not look at the meat, it might make you worse."
He turned to face Harry. "Harry?"
Harry was leaning on the dividing bar, shaking badly.
"Yo, Harry, you okay?"
" . . . no . . . " Harry said weakly. " . . . sick . . . ah . . . ah . . . " He began wavering, and then collapsed to the floor.
"Oh my god!" a girl shouted.
Jimmy crouched down, and picked Harry up. "We gotta get you to the nurse. You shouldn't have come today."
" . . . zzz . . . " Harry whispered.
"Thank you, professor," Jimmy said when he saw the tracking device. "Can we try it?"
"Sure," the professor said, pressing the button. Immediately, it whirred to life. A small screen flickered on, and a dot appeared.
"It worked!" Jimmy exclaimed. "So fast!"
"Caution, young friend," Hamilton warned. "Pay attention to those coordinates. This says he is right here behind us."
Jimmy spun around, expecting to see Spider-Man at the window. No one was there.
"Where is he?"
"Wait a minute . . . " The professor walked to a box beside the window and reached in. "Of course." He pulled something out of the box. "Nano-machines, like the ones that make his costume. It's tracking them instead. Guess I'll have to do some more work."
"Thanks, professor. But I have something else in mind that might work."
"I'll keep fooling with this anyway, just in case. Who knows, I might invent something."
Jimmy stood at the door of the large mansion, rather intimidated by its size. He knocked. It seemed to resonate through the halls. A maid answered. She was rather large, and had a menacing look upon her face.
"Yes?"
"Hi, I'm Jimmy Olsen, a friend of Harry's. I helped him when he collapsed today. Uh, can I see him?"
The maid stepped aside, her face unchanging. "Come in. It is the second room on the right upstairs."
The maid returned to her work, and Jimmy climbed the stairs, admiring the ornate decoration, somewhat in awe. Coming up to the second door, he knocked.
"Who is it?" a muffled voice on the other end asked.
"It's Jimmy. The maid said I could come up."
"Jimmy? Come in!"
Jimmy opened the door and walked into his classmate's room. It was medium sized, certainly smaller than Jimmy would have imagined it. The lights were off, and the air had a strange musty feel to it.
"How ya feeling?" Jimmy asked.
Harry bobbed his head. "Better. A little. Still hurt all over."
"So, you're cooped up in here?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah. It sucks, but I can deal. Whacha want?"
"Huh? Oh, I came for some help with a story for the Planet?"
"How can I help?"
"Jameson wants me to unmask Spider-Man."
"Big story for the boss, huh? To save the paper? Kinda ironic, don't you think?"
"What do you mean?"
"My dad is buying the paper. And you're helping Jameson trying to save it."
"So, you won't help?" Jimmy wondered.
"I will. Just because it's my dad doesn't mean I have to agree with anything he does. But, I still don't understand why you came to me."
"Your dad probably has access to a lot of technology, much of which has been discarded, right?"
"Yeah, down in the lab."
"He keeps it here?"
"Most of it."
"Is there any sort of hunting robot?"
"You mean something that will track Spider-Man down?"
"Yeah, and then take a picture."
Harry thought for a minute. "As a matter of fact, I think there just might be something."
"I'm thinking a three-robot set. Try to trap Spidey before getting a picture."
"Jimmy, you are developing the mind of an evil genius."
"No, I just pay attention to how these heroes get themselves in trouble."
"Tell ya what. I'll snoop around, and see what I can find. It should only take an hour."
"Harry, in your condition, are you sure you should be doing this alone?"
"Trust me. My dad doesn't like company much. Besides, I might be able to contact someone who can help."
"An hour then."
"I'll call you."
Jimmy walked to the door. "Okay, I'll be waiting. You know the number?"
"How many times have I had to call you for answers to math homework?"
"Oh, right." He slipped out and closed the door.
Peter, Mary Jane, and Perry White stood in Lois's room at Mercy General Hospital, watching over the unconscious reporter.
"So, the landlord found her like that this morning, with no electricity in the building?" Peter asked.
"And the power could be restored to every part of building except her apartment," Perry added.
"What are the police saying is the cause?"
"They're baffled. Actually, I think a few of them have thought it might be the work of a superpowered being, but are in denial," Perry asked.
"I have some contacts on the force. I'll check with them," Peter said as the three turned around when they heard a knock on the door. "Victor!" he added, surprised for a moment. "That's right, your grandmother . . . "
" . . . was a Lane," Victor finished. "How is she?"
"Breathing, but still unconscious," Perry replied.
"That was a hell of a shock," Vic commented. "And the police still aren't convinced it was Electro?"
"Nope," Peter said.
MJ looked at her watch. "Well, I have to be going. I have to work. Peter, need a ride?"
Peter shook his head. "I'll walk. As a matter of fact, I should leave now, too. I'll walk you to your car. Victor, Perry, catch ya later?"
"Yeah, Peter. Later," Vic replied.
"See you," Perry added.
"Bye," MJ said.
After Peter watched Mary Jane drive off, he ran to an alley, and making sure no one was around, activated his Spider-Man outfit. A minute of webslinging later, he was in police headquarters. He walked to the front desk.
The officer looked up. "Oh, hi, Spider-Man. Here to see Captain Stacy?"
"Yes, sir," Spidey replied.
The officer picked up the phone and pressed two buttons. "Captain Stacy, Spider-Man's here to see you."
" . . . "
"Okay." He hung up the phone and looked up again. "You may go in."
Spider-Man walked around the desk, and into the main area of the station. It wasn't long before he found himself opening the door to Stacy's small office. Stacy looked up from the case file he was reading.
"Spider-Man, so nice to see you. How can I help you?"
"Are you are the Lane case?" Spidey said bluntly.
"You mean Lois Lane? No. I have nothing to do with it."
"Can you get on it?"
Stacy shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Not my department."
"Can you at least influence some of the officers?"
Stacy leaned forward. "Influence? How?"
"From what I have heard about the incident, it looks like the work of Electro. However, none of the cops on the case want to admit that."
"Interesting," Stacy commented. "Electro? That crazy guy you chased out of the apartment right before Christmas?"
Spidey nodded. "That's him."
"I'll see what I can do. Of course, that could transfer the case over to Major Crimes. Sawyer and Turpin. They're more open-minded."
"Whatever. I'm looking for Electro."
"Just why are you so concerned about this?"
"Lois Lane is a . . . friend."
Peter stopped by the Daily Planet to check if there was any major news that he should be aware of. As he walked in, Perry spotted him.
"Peter, come here."
Peter entered Perry's office. Perry held up a piece of paper.
"This was delivered while I was out. It's message for Spider-Man. I assumed you could deliver it."
Peter looked at it. "The bank needs to see Spider-Man?"
"That's what it says. It doesn't sound too urgent, though."
"Okay, I'll let him know."
"Will you see him soon?"
"Oh, yeah. Real soon."
Jimmy found himself back at Emil Hamilton's lab. This time, they were joined by Harry Osborn and one other man, an associate of Harry's father, a man by the name of Smythe.
"Mr. Smythe here created this tracking devices," Harry explained. "They are exactly what you're looking for."
"Can we send them out now?" Jimmy asked.
"All we need is to program it for Spider-Man," Smythe explained. "Professor Hamilton, I believe you can do that?"
"Yes, it will only be a matter of moments."
"Can you program them to return to me?" Jimmy asked.
"Yes," Smythe answered. "Just use this remote device. When you press the button, they will come, or they will just come to where you are when their objective is complete."
Spider-Man neared the hospital. He did a sweep of nearby buildings to check for whoever was responsible - Electro or not.
Sure enough, in a parking garage across from the hospital, his built-in goggles saw something. He swung around, until he was on the back side of the garage. He carefully snuck up and attacked the person watching the hospital. It was like sticking a finger in an electrical outlet.
"Electro!" he exclaimed. "It was you!"
"Yeah, baby," Electro replied, turning around.
"Why?" Spidey asked, getting up, preparing his webshooters.
"I was told to watch Ms. Lane. It's much easier to watch her when she's unconscious."
"You know the police will be after you."
Electro shrugged. "So?" he asked while sending a massive charge directly at Spider-Man. Spidey flipped backward and dodged out of the way. As he landed, he fired impact webbing, knocking Electro back, and out of the garage. Before running and leaping out himself, Spidey checked the damage to any cars. There was none.
Electro landed hard on the ground below. Spider-Man used his webbing to slow himself down, and landed gracefully. Unbeknownst to either, a small little robotic device was hovering nearby. It was watching the tussle carefully.
Spider-Man webbed Electro to the ground. Before he could activate his police signal, the villain broke free, and began running away. A block away, he created a field of electrical energy and began riding it.
A month and a half with powers, and he can do stuff like that? Spidey thought. Spidey started slinging after him. However, Electro was going too fast. He couldn't even launch a spider tracer, and even if he could, Electro would know and short circuit it. Darn. And no pictures, either.
Spider-Man ducked into the nearest alley. Above, the three tracking robots gathered together and hovers. The two trackers surrounded the camera, but kept circling above. As Spider-Man walked in, it took a shot.
Within the next second, Spider-Man deactivated his suit, reverting to Peter Parker. At the same time, a truck carrying a large pane of glass on the back passed by. Peter spun around, to look at it, and the camera snapped another picture.
Peter's spider sense went off. He looked up and saw the cameras. Immediately, his glove regenerated, and he fired nano-machines in the direction of the camera, hoping to short it out.
Sure enough, it caused it to spark, and something broke off. Finally, it retreated, and Peter let the glove slide off.
When Norman Osborn returned home that night, he wasn't in the best mood. He walked into Harry's room.
"The school called. Said you got sick."
"Yeah," Harry said weakly. "I seemed to get better a few hours ago, but all of a sudden, it kicked back in."
"A cold, I assume."
"No, it feels much worse."
Norman raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. I'll have one of the doctors look you over first thing in the morning."
"Okay. Hey, dad, I have something to tell you that interesting."
"What's that?"
"Someone came by, wanting to unmask Spider-Man. I found those trackers that Smythe made for you last year."
"Did they work?"
"I haven't heard yet."
"That could be a very interesting field test. Let me know how it turns out."
"I will."
Jimmy plugged the robot camera into his computer. It was fairly simple, just like his digital camera. He loaded the pictures.
He was excited to see the first picture load.
The second picture shocked him, though.
"Peter?"
For the second morning in a row, Jimmy headed out early. This time, he used his car, and drove to the Daily Planet. He went straight up to Jameson's office with his pictures. He didn't even bother knocking.
"I have them," he said.
"That's great, my boy," Jameson said. "Let me see."
Jameson took the prints and let out a low whistle when he saw the second one. "Parker?" Then he took a closer look, and put the two pictures side by side. "Olsen, you dolt. These are from completely different times of day!"
"Huh?" Jimmy asked, leaning over.
"Look at the shadows. They're pointing in different directions in each photo."
"Lousy, no good, piece of junk . . . " Jimmy muttered.
The next few sentences from Jameson all blurred together in Jimmy's mind. All he was thinking about was how he failed. Then, he saw the three robots hovering outside the office window, behind Jameson.
"Uh, Mr. Jameson?" Jimmy interrupted.
"What?" Jameson snapped.
Jimmy pointed at the robots. Jameson turned around, and the camera snapped a picture. The bright flash temporarily blinded Jameson. Jimmy ran out, hearing a string of curses coming from the newspaper owner.
As Jimmy walked up to his car, he saw the robots laying beside it, looking so innocent. He popped the trunk, grabbed the robots, and threw them in, slamming the trunk.
"I can't believe I blew it!" he exclaimed.
Meanwhile, at Mercy General Hospital . . .
Lois Lane had been perfectly still for almost twenty-four hours. Somehow, she was still alive, but in a deep coma. The doctors considered her lucky.
Her luck ran out, though.
It was the nurse at the desk just outside the room that heard it first. "Flatliner!" she yelled, hoping that a doctor nearby would hear it. She picked up the phone to alert someone. Within seconds, medics seemed to pop out of the woodwork and rush into Lois's room.
"What in the world is going on?" Dr. Folsome asked. "How can she be flatlining?"
J. Jonah Jameson came down into the City Room. He looked at the clock. 7:50 AM. He would remember the time for a long time to come.
"Attention!" he shouted. All of the chatter died down, and the reporters began standing up. Perry White even came out of his office.
"Thank you," Jameson said. "As you are aware of, the Planet's revenue has been declining, and so is circulation. Certain individuals in this city have also taken an interest in internet news. All of this has led me to only one course of action. I don't want to take it, but I am forced to.
"I will be selling the Daily Planet. By the end of the week, many of you could be out of a job."
Next issue: The plot thickens even more. Can the doctors save Lois? Why was Harry so sick? Who will finally buy the paper? Where will Jonah end up? Who is Electro working for? All of this and more will be dealt with, but answers may be hard to come by. Everything so far in this series has been leading up to this point, so you don't want to miss it now! Read Spider-Man #24!