Web of Spider-Man #81

Issue Details

Synopsis

LIVING IN FEAR Ricky returns home to his apartment to find a costumed individual waiting inside for him. The man in the costume introduces himself as Bloodshed, then removes his mask revealing himself to be none other than Wyndell. Ricky is shocked to see his brother after so many years. Sitting down with a beer, Wyndell tells Ricky where he has been all this time. He explains that he became a mercenary getting a lot of lucrative work in the far east, eventually moving into the drug trade to earn even more money. He hooked up with some American drug dealers in Thailand that offered to grant him even greater strength. Wyndell accepted their offer and was experimented upon. As Bloodshed he returned to the United States where he protected drug shipments from rival gangs and the authorities. However, recently he was forced to dump a drug shipment when his vessel was boarded by the Coast Guard. When he reported this loss to his employer, mobster Phillippe Bazin, Bazin gave him a deadline of three days to come up with one millions dollars or be eliminated. Having heard that his younger brother was working for a securities firm, he had come to convince Ricky to steal the money for him. When Ricky asks why Wyndell doesn't rob a bank, the elder brother explains that he can't take needless risks this time around. Reminding Ricky that he owes him, Bloodshed crushes his television with his bare hands as a show of his power. He once more threatens Ricky before leaving.   The next day, during Ricky's lunch hour, the young man frets over his brother's threats and if he should go through with the theft. When he leaves the office he spots Spider-Man calls out to him. Immediately regretting it, Ricky is surprised when the wall-crawler turns around and asks him what's up. Ricky chickens out, telling the masked hero that it was not him who called out and runs off, leaving the wall-crawler confused. He's not the only one as Bloodshed has been following his brother from the rooftops. He begins to wonder if there isn't some connection between his brother and Spider-Man. Fearing that his brother might rat him out again, Bloodshed attacks the hero. Although Spider-Man is caught off guard, he soon gets his feet. Hearing Bloodshed's rants about wanting revenge confuses the hero because he doesn't recognize him. Bloodshed then tosses a taxicab, prompting Spider-Man to catch it and rescue the driver inside. Spider-Man's attacker then lashes into the cab in order to get at the hero but finds no trace of him. Furious, Bloodshed storms off, unaware that Spider-Man quickly ducked down a manhole. As his attacker leaves, the wall-crawler tags Bloodshed with a spider-tracer.   Hours later, Ricky tries to figure out his next course of action after Wyndell trashed his apartment in retaliation for almost tipping off Spider-Man. Deciding to go out for some food, Ricky doesn't notice the spider-tracer on the floor that was dislodged from Bloodshed's armor during his tantrum. When he gets outside his apartment, Ricky spots Spider-Man coming by. Recognizing Ricky from earlier in the day, the wall-crawler tries to talk to him but Ricky runs off scared. Spider-Man finds this curious, he looks at the residential listing of Ricky's apartment building. Spotting Dickinson's name on the directory, he finds the name familiar but can't recall when he saw it before. The next evening, Spider-Man goes to the Daily Bugle as Peter Parker to look up Richard Dickinson in the Bugle's archives. There he finds the story about how he busted Ricky and his brother for an attempted car theft. However, the article only mentions one of the Dickinson brothers, but Peter remembers there being two. He suspects that Ricky might be Bloodshed and decides to go looking for him as Spider-Man. To this end he starts looking around the area where he first bumped into Ricky the day before.   By this time, Bloodshed has forced his way into the office where Ricky works to force him to hand over the money. The villain finds his brother waiting for him at his desk. Wyndell is furious when Ricky explains that he can't bring himself to steal the money his brother needs. Threatening to kill Ricky, Bloodshed backs off when Spider-Man comes crashing through the window. Not seeing the costumed villain, Spider-Man confronts Ricky, thinking he is Bloodshed. However, his spider-sense begins going off quickly warning him that he is making a mistake. Bloodshed still manages to ambush Spider-Man and decides that perhaps his debt will be forgiven if he manages to kill the costumed hero. Although Bloodshed has the advantage, the battle turns when Ricky leaps onto his back. Bloodshed bats his brother away, but this distraction gives Spider-Man the time to recover and hit his foe as hard as he can. The blow is so powerful that it knocks out Bloodshed. With the battle over, Spider-Man apologizes for jumping to conclusions about Ricky and thanks him for his help. After Spider-Man leaves, Ricky calls the police. After giving his statement to the authorities, Ricky walks home and for the first time the guilt over his past is no longer there.