**** (four of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Tiberius...I can't believe I'm saying this, but..." "If the next words out of your mouth are that you're proud of me, you're fired." -- Miguel and Tiberius, having a moment
Summary
In mid-battle, Miguel tries to convince the Scorpion to stop attacking him, since they're both trying to accomplish the same thing, namely, save Tiberius Stone. The Scorpion, not surprisingly, announces that he doesn't care if Spidey is right, because he just wants to kill him. Miguel asks why Alchemax hired the Scorpion to run the Spider-Slayer program, and Gargan notes that he knows both spiders and robots, so he was the ideal candidate. Miguel realizes that the Scorpion isn't going to acknowledge that Miguel isn't Spider-Man, and Gargan uses his tail to knock him out the window. Miguel lands right in front of the Spider-Slayers, but Gargan declares that he only wants them to keep Miguel contained so he can be the one to defeat him. Miguel leaps into the air to escape, but one of the Slayers grabs him with a rope and pulls him to the ground. Gargan then resumes attacking him, and Miguel marvels at the fact that history dismisses the Scorpion as a "minor annoyance for Spider-Man at best." While Miguel wonders how he's going to beat someone so quick and vicious, Tiberius awakens in time for the building where he's being held to start crumbling around him. Mussaret leaps on top of him to protect him, and the rubble kills her. A disturbed Tiberius silently leaves the building.
Outside, the Scorpion shows off his new costume, deploying a laser canon embedded in his tail. Miguel evades the lasers, but the Spider-Slayers give him chase. The Scorpion reminds Miguel that Slayers will open fire on anything "spidery," prompting Miguel to hide in an alley and get Lyla to cloak him in his street clothes. Frustrated that he can't find Miguel, the Scorpion takes several civilians hostage (with the help of the Slayers), threatening to kill them if he doesn't emerge from hiding. (The Scorpion does note that Spidey has been different lately, so he's not 100 percent sure that the plan will work.) Miguel realizes that he needs to turn to the Slayers to his side, so he webs up his watch and throws it onto the Scorpion's back. Once attached, he has Lyla project his costume onto the Scorpion, just as he's going to kill a young boy with his tail cannon. However, acquiring their target, the Spider-Slayers open fire on the Scorpion. He's initially confused, but he eventually sees the costume on himself and understands that he's there target. (He's still clueless how he wound up wearing Spidey's costume). As Gargan fends off the Slayers, Miguel rescues the young boy, who hugs him before running for safety. Miguel goes to find Tiberius, but doesn't have to go far as Tiberius stumbles upon Gargan's battle with the Slayers. He utters a deactivation phrase, and finds a nearly unconscious Gargan on the bottom of a pile of Slayers. Miguel shoots a Web-Line to grab his watch from Gargan's back and orders Lyla to call Jalafa Dahn to send a pick-up crew to get him and Tiberius.
At dinner with Dahn, Tiberius tells him that he doesn't have to get revenge on the people responsible for his kidnapping because they're "already been dealt with." Dahn asks when he'll get replacements for the Slayers that the Scorpion destroyed, and Tiberius, after a moment of silence, informs Dahn that he won't be giving him armaments against his people. He tells Dahn that he'll refund his money, but a furious Dahn threatens him. However, Tiberius reveals the army of Spider-Slayers waiting outside Dahn's palace and informs Dahn that he has an hour to leave before the Slayers will activate and find him. Miguel and Tiberius get into their limo, where Gargan is waiting, and they all head home.
The Review
Although I do have a Bad in this post, I have to say that this arc wrapped up a lot better than I thought that it would. The only questionable part was the oddly close relationship that Tiberius and Mussaret developed so quickly. However, Miguel's fight with the Scorpion more than compensates for it. David not only infuses it with hilarity, but he also makes you wonder how Miguel is going to win. It's nice to see the Scorpion have a moment, even if he finishes the fight on the bottom of a pile of Spider-Slayers.
The Really Good
Man, I did not see the resolution of the fight coming. As I said, I really had no idea how Spidey was going to survive a full-on assault from a souped-up Scorpion and his Spider-Slayer horde. But, David really just outdoes himself by having Miguel use Lyla to make the Slayers think than Gargan was Spider-Man. It's always much more fun when superheroes uses their brains and not their fists to solve a problem, even if outwitting the Scorpion isn't the hardest thing to do.
The Good
1) I liked that Tiberius actually had some growth here. In both this title and "Amazing/Superior Spider-Man," he been a pretty one-note villain. If he's going to continue having a presence in this series, David is going to have to flesh him out a bit. I mean, I don't want him to be a good guy or anything, but it does help get a sense of where he draws his lines.
2) I loved Mac and Miguel's interaction in the car. Sure, it was pretty clichéd, but I still laughed. Similarly, I thought it was a nice touch to include the little boy hugging Miguel after he saved him from the Scorpion. Miguel has always been a harder touch than Peter, at least on the outside, so I liked him getting all awkward over the kid's display of affection exactly because he was touched by it.
The Unknown
David appears to answer a question that I've had throughout this series by revealing (I think) that Miguel is always in his costume. When he throws his watch onto the Scorpion, Miguel reverts from his street clothes to his costume. It confirms that Lyla is usually just flashing the hologram of his street clothes on top of the costume (something she couldn't be doing then, since she was on the Scorpion). He apparently just has to hide his mask. It's good to know, because it'll stop annoying me.
The Bad
I don't really understand why Mussaret sacrificed herself to save Tiberius. OK, sure, she's wasn't sure that she would die if she hurled herself on top of him, but she had to have some inkling that getting between him and the collapsing ceiling wasn't exactly increasing her lifespan. She seemed genuinely concerned for him in that moment, just as he seemed to be mournful over her after he realizes that she's dead. However, I don't feel like they had spent enough time together for that relationship to develop. I would've more easily bought the idea that she did it merely because she knew that she needed him alive to end the sale of the Spider-Slayers. But, it seems to be more than that, given Tiberius' equally emotional response. I'm not sure what David would've had to have done to convince me that they felt emotionally connected to one another, but it would've helped sell this story. I mention it because it's an important component of the story, with Tiberius' emotional growth depending from it.
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