Were Richard and Mary Parker traitors or heroes? Peter seeks to answer this question. But he may have to go through a Red Skull or two...
At the start of this annual, Spider-Man is in the Casbah in Algeria, when he notices his spider sense tingling. He's then attacked by a gang of thugs, who don't seem to know much about his powers, as he easily takes out most of them due to their bad attacks, such as pushing a cart full of watermelons towards Spider-Man. As he takes out one of the last thugs, Spider-Man remembers that he didn't come half-way around the world for fun, and that he should get on with his mission at hand. Spider-Man then sees the rest of the thugs running off, and chases after them, since they could have the answers that he's searching for, and whoever sent them to attack him must know the reason why he's there. Whilst chasing the thugs, one of them shoots at Spider-Man, and Spider-Man is grazed by a bullet, and falls off a rooftop into a canal. The thugs think that he's dead, and walk off, just before Spider-Man climbs out of the water and collapses on the ground.
Spider-Man's mind then flashes back to a few days ago, when as Peter Parker, he was moving a trunk of Aunt May's. When it started to fall, he had instinctively grabbed it, and his strength had opened it. Inside he found newspaper clippings and photos of his parents. The newspaper clippings say that his parents had been traitors to their country, and Peter realises why Aunt May has never told him who his parents were. He then ran up to Aunt May, and asked her about the clippings. Aunt May then replies that there was nothing they could do to deny it, and so her and Uncle Ben hadn't told Peter so as to not hurt him. Aunt May then recalls how Peter's parents had left Peter with them when he was very young, before going overseas for Peter's father's work. A few weeks later, they were killed and evidence of them committing treason was found. Aunt May and Uncle Ben then decided to raise Peter on their own, but not to tell him about his parents.
Peter then asks Aunt May about whether there was any evidence of his parents being innocent. Aunt May replies that there wasn't any evidence, but that she and Ben had written to the man in Algeria who had identified the bodies, asking for more information. Unfortunately, he never replied. Peter then leaves, somewhat shattered about his parents, although Aunt May reminds him that his parents did love him. However, the fact that his parents were alleged traitors gets Peter brooding and angry, and after several days, he decides that he'll go to Algeria himself and find out the truth about his parents. As Spider-Man, he then goes to the Fantastic Four, who provide him with a ship which takes him across to Algeria. Upon reaching there, Spider-Man goes to the restaurant which is owned by the man who had identified the bodies of his parents, and questions him. The man says that they were spies, who worked for a master of intrigue whose headquarters are in Algeria. The man refuses to say who it is, but gives Spider-Man the address where the headquarters are. On the way there, Spider-Man's spider sense started tingling, which is where the annual started.
Recovering after climbing out of the canal which he fell into, Spider-Man then keeps heading for the headquarters that he's looking for, where he takes out the only guard at the door. Spider-Man easily breaks in, and starts looking for documents about his parents, which he finds in a hidden filing cabinet. Spider-Man then finds a file on his father, which has an identification card of some sort inside, with a picture of a skull on it. Spider-Man then thinks that his father must be a traitor, since the card confirms that he was working for a secret spy ring. Spider-Man then turns around to find that the head of the spy ring has entered, and that it's one of the greatest villains of the Marvel Universe: the Red Skull! The Skull then calls a man called Sandor into the room in order to finish Spider-Man off. Spider-Man manages to defeat Sandor using his webbing, but during the fight, the shoulder of his costume rips.
The Red Skull leaves during the fight, as he realises that Spider-Man must be stronger than he realised if he defeated Sandor so easily. Spider-Man meanwhile starts preparing to leave Algeria, as he's found no proof of his parents' innocence. Whilst Spider-Man is going away, one of the Red Skull's men finds the part of Spider-Man's costume which ripped, and so the Red Skull sends for one of his men called the Finisher. The Finisher is given the piece of costume, saying that that's all that he needs to finish Spider-Man's life, before driving off in a limousine. Inside the limo is a complicated computer, which analyses the material and leads the Finisher's driver to Spider-Man. Upon reaching him, a missile is fired out of the trunk of the car, which starts homing in on Spider-Man. Spider-Man realises that the Red Skull isn't going to let him get away scot-free, but still manages to destroy the missile.
The Finisher realises that Spider-Man is more powerful than he suspected, and so fires a more sophisticated missile after Spider-Man. Spider-Man realises that it's much faster than the first one, and that he won't be able to stop it, and so leads it to the Finisher's limo. Spider-Man then gets the Finisher out of the wreck of the limo, and the Finisher says that he's been badly hurt by the explosion, and will die soon. Spider-Man then says that the Finisher will have nothing to lose by telling him what his father's relationship with the Red Skull is. The Finisher than says that the Red Skull found out that Richard Parker was a double agent, and so sent the Finisher to kill him, and dishonour him at the same time by making the world think that he's a traitor to America. The Red Skull then sent Richard on a mission, but upon Richard getting in the plane with his wife, the plane exploded, killing them both. Shortly after this false evidence was planted on them to make them look like traitors.
The Finisher then says that Richard was a secret agent for the United States, and that he was never a traitor, just before dying. Encouraged by this, Spider-Man then heads back to the Red Skull's headquarters to find evidence that clears their name, knowing for certain now that his parents were innocent all along. Upon reaching the Red Skull's headquarters and confronting the Skull, the Red Skull starts fighting Spider-Man, using the technology in his base. When Spider-Man asks him why he tried to convince the world that Richard was a traitor, the Red Skull says that that was his final punishment for betraying him. As the fight continues, the Skull takes off his shirt to show a laser cannon-like device hidden there. He then starts firing at Spider-Man, but hits his chair instead, which had lasers concealed in it. This causes the chair to explode, starting a fire.
Spider-Man recovers from the explosion to find the Skull missing, and wonders whether he was killed by the fire or managed to escape. Although the place is in flames, he still searches for evidence to prove his father's innocence. Fortunately, the identification card which he found earlier has become singed by the flames, and Spider-Man finds a second card hidden inside it, this one a card which has his father's credentials, proving that he was a double agent all along. Spider-Man then leaves, having achieved what he wanted to.
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