File:Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 65 001.jpg

Description
Having received a letter from the Dean of Students summoning Peter Parker to his office at 9:30 am. and having over-slept, Spider-Man web-swings to the Empire State University campus as fast as he can. It was lucky that the dean's secretary called him and woke him up. He hopes that with all the budget cuts, the university has not terminated the scholarship program, for then he would not be able to finish his education. Soon he enters the campus administration building through an upper story window, changes into his street clothes, and rushes into the dean's office. After Peter apologizes for his tardiness, the dean introduces him to Brian Braddock, an exchange student from Thames University in London. The dean reminds Peter of the questionnaire circulated last spring among the scholarship students and says that with all the fiscal problems, the university has found it necessary to board exchange students with regular students who live in private apartments. The consent form was one of many forms that Peter signed last spring. When Peter objects, the dean says that the university will also pay him $50 a week toward Brian's room and board. This rapidly changes Peter's mind, and he shakes hands with Brian and welcomes him as his temporary roommate. Then Peter takes Brian to the Coffee Bean to meet some of the other students. Meanwhile, at London's Heathrow Airport, two limousines pull up to a privately owned 747 Jumbo Jet just in from New York, and Miss Locke invites two men, Roak and Moran, up the stairs into the aircraft to meet Mr. Arcade. Roak and Moran find Arcade peculiar, but they know that he is the finest assassin in the world, and they need him. They introduce themselves and explain that they represent the Commission, the top European hierarchy of the Maggia, and they hand Arcade a dossier on a university student named Brian Braddock, whom they need eliminated. They explain that their computers indicate that he is one of several people who may be the secret identity of Captain Britain, whose activities have crippled their operations in recent weeks. Since Braddock is in New York, they felt it more appropriate to use an American hit man. Unknown to any of the plotters, in a sports car not too far away from the aircraft, a woman is eavesdropping on their conversation with a shotgun mike. She can prevent Roak and Moran from carrying out their assassinations in Europe, she muses, but because Braddock is too far away, he is on his own. Brian tries to fall asleep at Peter's apartment after he and Peter spend the evening with Mary Jane Watson and friends, but he finds it impossible. Peter, however, thinks that his new roommate is sleeping, so he changes into his Spider-Man costume, opens a window, and prepares to depart. Unfortunately, a fire truck, its siren blaring, startles Brian, who enters Peter's locked room in time to see Spider-Man web-swing away. When Brian sees that Peter is gone, he imagines that Spider-Man kidnapped him or worse. Accounts that Brian has read indicate that Spider-Man is some kind of criminal, so rather than let him escape, Brian changes into Captain Britain and, using his Star Sceptre, flashes away in pursuit. Before Spider-Man can determine how Brian managed to get through Peter's locked door so easily, he receives a sudden double-footed kick from Captain Britain. Spider-Man plummets toward the street, annoyed that he was too preoccupied to heed his spider-sense, but he manages to save himself with his webbing, swings around, and slams Captain Britain from behind. Captain Britain strikes him with his sceptre, and the battle begins. As they fight, Spider-Man imagines that he recognizes Captain Britain's voice, and he also realizes that Captain Britain is considerably faster and stronger than he initially thought. The noise of their battle wakes the neighbors, who call the police, so Spider-Man takes the fight to a building under construction, where his agility will make up for his opponent's flying power and-raw strength. When Spider-Man heaves an I-beam at Captain Britain, Britain's Star Sceptre deflects it with a force field. Seeing how formidable his opponent is, Spider-Man tries to lose him in the building's unfinished corridors. But the Englishman follows tenaciously, saying that it will take more than "arachnid acrobatics" to throw him off his trail. When Captain Britain utters his name, Spider-Man recognizes his voice as Brian Braddock's, and that, together with the coincidence of having to battle Captain Britain the same day he got a British roommate clinches Captain Britain's identity. Then Spider-Man snatches the Star Sceptre from Captain Britain's hands. Deprived of his weapon, Britain falls toward the street, so Spider-Man catches him with his webbing and hauls him up to safety. This convinces Britain that Spider-Man is not the villain he thought he was. Spider-Man explains that Peter Parker takes pictures of him in action and they split the paycheck. Captain Britain apologizes for his error, and when Spider-Man asks, he tells something of his origin. Months ago, he begins, he was running for his life from the armored servants of Joshua Stragg, a powerful criminal who was trying to kidnap the staff of the Darkmoor Nuclear Research Centre. As Brian motorcycled frantically through the Cheviot Hills, Stragg's huge hovercraft suddenly blocked the road and blinded him with its light. The cycle went over a cliff and burst into flame. Somehow, he, Brian Braddock, survived, although he was in great pain. Then voices beckoned to him, and he arose, stumbled through the forest, and at last arrived at a place the voices called the Siege Perilous. Then there was a brilliant flare of white light, and when it faded, he found himself within a Circle of Power outlined in stone menhirs like those at Stonehenge. Above him floated the two wraithlike figures, whose voices he had heard. One, a bearded man, told him he was there to be Judged, while the other, a dark-haired woman, assured him this was no dream. They need a champion, she said, to stand for values and beliefs that transcend time. At first Braddock declined, saying that he was merely a student and a scholar. But soon the woman persuaded him to choose between two artifacts set in stones in the center of the circle. Both were mystic talismans—a sword and an amulet. Realizing that this was a chance to save his friends at the Research Centre, Brian chose the amulet. Since he was not a warrior, he felt that the sword was inappropriate. Then a bolt of pure energy consumed him, and he changed into Captain Britain. He notes, as he concludes his narrative, that he has since fought many evildoers in England. Just then, a police helicopter approaches, and a loudspeaker orders them to stay where they are until taken into custody. Spider-Man hands the sceptre back to Captain Britain, and they flee as Jean DeWolff and some of her policemen arrive. From the pilot's description, Jean realizes that the man with Spider-Man is Captain Britain. She is desperate to find the two super-heroes before it is too late, but unfortunately, they manage to elude her men. Then, just when they think the coast is clear, a special garbage truck swiftly scoops them off the street. When Jean drives by the truck a minute later, the "garbagemen" tell her that they have seen neither Spider-Man nor his red-costumed companion. They haven't seen one blessed thing, gloats the driver, Arcade.