3. Back to the Start
Peter and Mary Jane are still trying to work out how Peter can live a normal life, even as his status has been declared dead by Spider-Man. But before husband and wife could lose hope, X-51 arrives from Counter-Earth to Earth's New York, searching for Spider-Man and John Jameson. X-51 makes his appearance publicly known, and Spider-Man and John meet the reformed Machine Man in Time Square. X-51 reveals that with Karen as not only a Beastial, but as the new High Evolutionary, she has returned the human oppression status quo. John wants to come back to Counter-Earth since he stayed there for the Resistance, and Spider-Man finds that since Peter Parker is "dead," there's nothing more for him than to go back to Counter-Earth with John and X-51. Peter returns to MJ to tell her that he will be leaving again, and she in turn asks if he will be back again when he's done. He tells her that she should move on with her life, because his position as just Spider-Man would handicap her emotionally. With a tearful goodbye, Peter tells his beloved wife that their relationship is over, even without divorce papers, and he takes his leave with John and X-51 back to Counter-Earth via Solaris I.
Later, as Solaris I is launched into Earth's orbit, X-51 asserts that he will have to slave Spider-Man's invisibility circuitry into Solaris I so that it will be cloaked upon re-entry to Counter-Earth. That way, they won't be captured by the High Evolutionary's tractor beam from the planet. It's successful, and Solaris I is landed in a desolate part of New York called the Dumps. Spider-Man, John, and X-51 secure the ship by locking it up and covering it up with piles of garbage so that it won't be discovered. They then set off on foot to the Human Resistance's new hideout; the sewers of New Jersey. However, the trio must combat their way through wild Rejects, rejected Beastials who are wild, unreasoning, and brutish monsters who have no thought but to kill one another just to survive.
Spider-Man, Jameson, and X-51 successfully negotiate against and through the wild Rejects and make it out of the Dumps to head for New Jersey. Halfway toward their destination, however, they are spotted by Machine Men, led by the Knights of Wundagore, save for the absence of Lord Tiger. Spider-Man notices Tiger's absence, and Sir Ram simply responds that Tiger was not as loyal to the new High Evolutionary as he promised. This leads to a chase across the Basement of New York, where all of the Machine Men, except for X-51, are destroyed, and Spider-Man, Jameson, and X-51 manage to lose the Knights of Wundagore via the sewers. From there, the continue on until they reach the Resistance HQ. And from there, Spider-Man is surprised to find two more additions to the rebellion; Naoko and Shane Yamada-Jones, with the Goblin. The Goblin takes off his mask to reveal that he's Norman Jones , and Naoko and Shane also reveal to Spider-Man that following the failed Synoptic, Norman revealed who he was to them. With that, the rebels unanimously reinstate John as their new leader, which he graciously accepts. Then he gathers all of the rebels around him to form their new plan against the Beastials.