Jim Mooney & Frank Springer tag back in on the art team as things are looking grim!
Peter hasn’t quite recovered his sight and is exhausted from all he’s been through in this story, and his ankle’s still messed up, and now he’s gotta deal with a powerful foe who knows all his secrets. That’s a rough night. Holly Gillis is convinced Hector is dead. She confesses her love to his unconscious form, drawing the attention of an increasingly deranged Carrion.
He convinces Holly to drag Hector out of the gym before she can be hurt (Or learn his secret), but that gives Carrion time to recover. He keeps babbling about all Peter stole from him, but none of it makes sense to our man.
That’s a helluva page turn, only to have Carrion say it’ll only hurt this time, but next time it will be fatal, and then disappear. What a cop out. But Peter, temporarily blinded again, lunges for Carrion as he fades out and Peter goes right out the window! Whoops! Hector picks this moment to wake up, turn into The White Tiger and rush into the room to… not save Pete at all. Peter falls in a bush. White Tiger and Holly come to see how he is, and he’s not dead, but he’s really out of it, so they take him to the campus infirmary. Flash & Sha Shan come to see him there, too. Peter is really confused, and for once, he can voice his concerns since everyone knows Carrion is after him, not Spider-Man, and he legit has no idea what’s going on. He needs to go get his Spidey costume from where it was stashed, and on the way, literally bumps into a new face on the scene: Randy Vale.
Well, that’s not weird or anything. Vale ducks into the science building on campus, where we learn he’s in league with Carrion! Whaaaaa? Carrion hasn’t told him why they hate Peter Parker, only that they totally do. I hope they explain why this random dude is gooning for Carrion, this is weird. Betty, MJ, Harry & Liz are putting Pete’s apartment back together for him since it was trashed. Which is super nice of them, but Pete doesn’t want to go in there for fear of endangering them. Instead, he decides to walk around out in the open, hoping to draw Carrion out. We see White Tiger is tailing him, hoping to keep him out of trouble, but not for long, as a ridiculous looking goofball on glider wings swoops up behind him and zaps him with a ray gun.
Carajo, indeed! The internet seems to indicate that’s a sort of all-purpose curse that can be all sorts of English expletives in the right context. White Tiger sez it, like, twice a minute. Good thing the Comics Code didn’t speak Spanish, I guess. Anyway, the dingus is called “Darter,” apparently, and he radios Carrion to let him know Peter is vulnerable now. But White Tiger’s not out yet, and prepares a counterattack even as Carrion appears to Peter. He helpfully suggests Peter get into his Spidey gear while taunting him some more. Why didn’t he just finish him the night before? Sssshhhhh. Pete’s rested up and ready for combat this time, though. Carrion’s taunts get more specific and less intimidating…
That’s just hilarious. “Remember your failure to schedule a gym class!” Then Spidey and Carrion smash into the gym, and then Tiger and Darter also smash into the gym, and now we’re ready for a brawl, but not before Carrion finally tells Spidey his beef:
Mmhm. More on that next time.