Black-balled by Dexter Bennett and constantly dealing with crises as Spider-Man, Peter Parker still hasn't found gainful employment. To make matters worse, the first of the month is coming, and he doesn't have his share of the rent. When a chance encounter with Menace leads to a great news story, Peter needs to find someone who's willing to take it from him... leading him to Front Line, Ben Urich and Sally Floyd's paper. But the story leads to mayoral candidate Randall Crowne. Crowne is a powerful man, and not one to suffer attack lightly.