What we've got is a bunch of wealthy guys illegally broadcasting superhero/super-villain fights so people can bet on them. Spidey's already taken out the mastermind, Donald Hart's, selection, Boomerang, and followed that up by defeating oil magnate Buck Masterson's selection (Scorpion) at the same time as tech genius Edwin Hill's XP-2000 robot. But he's trying to convince one of his students fighting is pointless, and constantly showing up with bruises and lame excuses is making that a hard sell. Time for answers!
XP's not entirely trashed, so Spidey brings him to the FF's HQ to see if he can figure out who's behind it. XP isn't enjoying the prodding, so Reed takes over and hits it off instantly with the robot, quickly using it to triangulate the broadcast points. XP is transmitting all this back to the rich guys, so they know they've got trouble. Their only remaining line of defense is film producer Gary Wisen's guy, Rocket Racer?!
The new outfit comes complete with rubber nipples, so I assume Wisen is supposed to be Joel Schumacher, the way I think Hill is Bill Gates (Hill mentions Congress is looking into him for possible anti-trust violations) and Hart is Trump, though he may not be ugly, stupid or vain enough for that.
The fights were broadcast to over 20 locations around the city, so Spidey drops the still-dismantled XP in an alley and switches into a terrible disguise to do some undercover work. He asks the bartender for 'Coke. On the rocks.' then panics when asked if he's trying to buy drugs or if he's a cop. He stumbles through asking about what bets are open, then makes a big show of putting all his money on his hero Spider-Man. Which doesn't make him any fans among the bouncers, especially when "all his money" is five bucks and a lunch ticket.
A significantly more battered Peter returns to the alley and changes back into costume just in time for Rocket Racer to arrive, following XP's homing beacon. Rocket Racer admits he's doing this to pay his student loans, and starts off with a barrage of mini-missiles. Spidey is slow to get up, and makes no effort to keep RR from throwing him through a brick wall. Hart figures out Spidey's throwing the fight and order Racer to hit him harder. Which doesn't work, making all the bettors think the fight is fixed, since the odds for Rocket Racer winning were really steep.
Hart offers Racer a million bucks to kill Spidey, but Racer turns off the comms and sits down for a chat instead. He wants to make sure Spider-Man knows he'd never kill him, and Spidey says he does, and that he appreciates it. As Rocket Racer zooms off, a slip of paper with an address on it just happens to fall out of his pockets.
Spidey has significantly more success smashing through the window than Rocket Racer did. He's pretty angry about the time he wasted on these fights, that could have been spent helping people in real trouble, just so these guys could make money. Hart insists it was about power, about finding a way to control all these super-powered people who think they can't be controlled. Then he pulls a gun, which gives Spidey an excuse to web and fling the guy across the room. Hill insists Spidey can't do anything to them given his grey legal standing, but apparently XP got very chatty with the FCC (and ends up testifying before Congress, to Peter's delight.)
At school the next morning, Louis sees Peter and asks what happens, Peter explains it wasn't worth fighting back, which seems to impress Louis.
{8th longbox, 72nd comic. Peter Parker: Spider-Man (vol. 2) #55, by Zeb Wells (writer), Khary Randolph (penciler), Wayne Faucher (inker), Studio F (colorist), Randy Gentile (letterer)}
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