Ultimate Spider-Man: Tampered
Issue: #44
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inker: Art Thibert
Colors: Transparency Digital

Aunt May receives a call from one of Peter’s teachers, who tells her that Peter had been missing even before the school was evacuated that afternoon. After the call, May asks Gwen Stacy if she knows where Peter is, but the last Gwen saw of him was when they walked to school together. May uses a fire extinguisher to break the knob on the door leading to Peter’s lab, and goes to the basement to investigate.

Meanwhile, Peter is sitting in a comfortable chair in a library, reading journalist Ben Urich’s book on the Kingpin, when he’s interrupted by Charles Xavier telling him to wake up. Peter has actually been unconscious at Xavier’s school. Ororo explains what happened after he was pulled out of the X-jet: she used wind to guide the plane to the ground while Jean Gray (Marvel Girl) rescued Peter and Geldoff. Peter is furious that the X-Men took off his mask, and complains that he can’t seem to keep a secret identity — everyone ends up knowing he’s Peter Parker. Kitty comments that up until that point, none of them knew his name.

Aunt May is looking around the basement for clues to Peter’s location. She tries his computer, but can’t get past the security. As she continues searching, we see a piece of glass shaped like the eye-openings in Spider-Man’s mask sitting off to one side. Aunt May misses it. At the school, Peter and Xavier are discussing Geldoff. Cerebro can’t seem to tell if he’s really a mutant or not.

However, after talking to Geldoff, Xavier thinks that the young man has been used as an experiment in genetics. The conversation between Xavier, Beast and Peter strays into the purely scientific for a while, but Peter brings it back to reality: why is Geldoff here, and what are they going to do with him? Xavier wants to use Geldoff as proof that someone is tampering with human genetics, but Peter argues that Geldoff is a person and should able to make his own choice. Peter fights his way past the X-Men with Geldoff in tow—then we see that it’s just been a mental fantasy as Xavier asks what good that would do.

Peter suddenly realizes it’s getting late and he needs to get home. However, he finds Aunt May waiting for him when he walks in. They need to talk, she tells him.

Submitted By: Seldes Katne