Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story. Spider-Man and all related characters are the property of Marvel Comics, a division of the Disney Corporation. Ergo, no profit is being made off this story and it is being written solely for entertainment purposes.

Continuity Note: This takes "place" in the universe of Spider-Man: Clone Saga miniseries. As a result, it's not in Marvel's main continuity and contains spoilers to said miniseries. Also, I am using the Marvel Universes it was during the original version of the Clone Saga. Well, in board strokes, anyway, though that isn't stopping me from using characters introduced since then. (Who actually likes The Crossing or Heroes Reborn?).

Four Months Ago

Dr. Curt Connors sat in a chair at a doctor's office with his wife, Martha, and their son, Billy. Recently, Martha and Billy had been feeling sick, but despite all of Curt's medical training and his best efforts, he couldn't help them getting better. He tried everything he could and even moved back to New York City and got a job at a lab to help him pay for medical treatment for Martha and Billy.

Eventually, after a series of failures, he relented and took them to see Dr. Bradley Throne, a known specialist, in the hopes that he could figure out what was wrong with them and could help them get better. It'd been weeks on tests on his family, but if it helps them, then it was worth it.

Dread welled up in Curt as the wait grew longer. Where is he? he thought.

Just then, Bradley walked in and sat behind his desk, a forlorn expression of his face. "Mr. Connors, Mrs. Connors, Billy, I'm afraid I've got bad news."

Curt began to feel fear fill him at those words, and he knew that Martha and Billy were probably feeling worse at the news. At the same time, he could feel the Lizard trying to crawl his way out of his mind, trying to take advantage of Curt's rage and sadness to escape

"What is it?" Martha asked.

"I'm sorry, but both you and your son have cancer, Mrs. Connors," Bradley replied, then he sighed and rubbed his eyes. This part was always hard for him. "It's terminal. I'd say you both have a couple of years at best. I wish I had better news, but I sadly don't. I'm sorry."

Suddenly, Curt was livid. "Unacceptable!" he yelled. "You have to help them! You have to!"

"We tired, Dr. Connors," Bradley began, "but—"

"No, you haven't!" Curt roared. Unbeknownst to him, his eyes were an eerie red. "You haven't done enough!" Then he grabbed Bradley. "You haven't—!"

"Curt, calm down," Martha whispered.

"How can I?" Curt yelled.

"Your . . . condition," Martha replied.

Curt blinked. He could feel the Lizard tearing at him now, get close to breaking free and realized that it wouldn't be good for anyone if he lost control. He took a deep breath, clamed down, and his eyes returns to their normal blue. "I-I'm sorry, Dr. Throne."

"I'm sorry, Curt, I wish I could do more," Bradley stated solemnly.

Maybe I can, though, Curt thought solemnly. I have to try—for my family.

Retirement

Chapter 1: Ten Minute Retirement

By Anicomicgeek

Rated T for Violence and Language

Now

Peter Parker stood in a bedroom in his house, looking at the mail, looking at the mail. He was hoping that his grant application would get approved so he could support his family. But after the recent mess with Harry Osborn, his former best friend, he was glad that his life was more or less back on track and that he had a new friend in Ben Reilly.

But one question remained in the back of his mind after everything that happened. A question eating at him now—should he once again don the costume of Spider-Man or just retire the identity altogether? After all, he did retire and handed over the identity to Ben after they and Kaine took on the Jackal. But then he donned the costume again briefly—mostly in trying to get to the hospital one time, though they got sidetracked with Kaine, and then when Harry arranged for his newborn daughter, May, to be kidnapped.

Along the adventure, Peter and Ben met a clone of Norman Osborn, who oddly decided to end the feud and sided with Peter and Ben—and died saving Peter. At the same time, Kaine—thanks to doubts in his own mind and encouragement from the Norman clone—decided to return baby May to her mother, Mary Jane Watson-Parker.

Then—with Harry in Ravencroft Institute, baby May safe, and Kaine going missing—Ben decided to leave, but he did say he would visit. That decision meant one thing.

No more Spider-Man.

Even the press had noticed Spider-Man's absence and began to report on it. Some people were wondering where he went, claiming that the city needed Spider-Man and hoping he'd return. Others—like Peter's old boss, John Jonah Jameson—were glad that he was gone, hoping that he'd stay gone and for good this time.

Even now, Peter began mulling over that. He was a father now, so he can't be Spider-Man anymore and besides, New York City also had Daredevil, the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, and several other super heroes, so the city could stand to do without one more. But on the other hand, Spider-Man was a big part of his life and he still heard Uncle Ben's words: "With great power comes great responsibility." On the other hand, he also knew that Uncle Ben would understand where he was coming from in retiring.

"Still thinking about putting the costume back on?" a voice asked.

Spinning to look behind him, Peter looked to see Mary Jane and said, "Oh, yeah. Sort of. I mean, I deserve to retire, don't I?"

"Yes, you do," Mary Jane said sympathetically. "I also know that you feel like a big part of your life is now gone." She knew what Peter was going through and could relate, but it would be good to have some peace and stability.

"There's other who can take care of things," Peter said. "The Avengers, the F.F., Daredevil, Luke Cage, Moon Knight—"

"There are people who help the world without donning tights and getting into brawls with psychopaths on a daily basis, you know," Mary Jane said. "You just have to let go and move on. We have a daughter now and we should think of her, too."

Peter smiled. "You're right, of course. I just have to let it go. I'm not Spider-Man anymore, I'm a father. The world won't end because I decided to retire."

"There you go," Mary Jane said, smiling.

Suddenly, Peter looked out to see a flare that read, SPIDER-MAN, WHERE ARE YOU? Peter figured it was probably the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four trying to get Spider-Man's attention. He knew that Ben probably didn't make a good impression on Johnny Storm and that Johnny also probably heard about his and Ben's battle with Kaine while both of them were dressed in their respective Spider-Man costumes.

Sighing, Peter said with a rueful smile, "No matter how much I'll miss it."

***S***

In a house in Queens, several officer were looking around, observing the damage after they'd gotten a report about weird noises coming from the house a few weeks ago. When the officers arrived to the house, they found the walls had scratches and holes in them, stuff were smashed to pieces or turned over, and there were pieces of ripped clothing in the bedrooms, but there was no sign of anyone at the house.

Detective Neil Garrett looked around the scene, having already interviewed the woman who made the call. According to her, Dr. Curt Connors lived at the house with his wife and son. The woman had told them what she believed was going on.

"I tell you, I think there's some strange going-ons at night," the woman said. "I've seen the light in his basement on at four in the morning and heard weird noises. I think he's runnin' a meth lab or something in his basement!"

The detective looked at the basement to find there was a lab, but whatever Connors was working on, it wasn't methamphetamine or something like that. They also found notes on chalkboards and in notebooks. As they continued, it became clear that Connors was indeed working on a project late into the night, but a lot of them couldn't figure out what it was he was working on, so they shipped it off to labs to see if someone could.

Right now, though, Garrett was trying to figure out what happened to the family. From what he could tell from what was left in the house, they could be in danger . . . or worse—and if something did happen to them, then the prime suspect would be the also-missing Curt Connors.

Grabbing the index book and looking through it, Garrett hoped that maybe some of the people listed in it would have information on Connors and help with the case. After all, time has of the essence and if the family was in danger, then the sooner they find them, the better.

Noticing something on the floor, Garrett leaned down to get a better look. What he saw looked like lizard scales. "Just what was Connors up to?" he muttered.

***S***

At their house, Mary Jane saw Peter walk in with the mail. He carried most of it in one hand, but in the other, he held an envelope of particular interest. As Peter sat the rest of the mail down on a coffee table, he took the envelope and opened it, then read the letter, feeling disappointment as he did so.

Noticing this, Mary Jane concerned and asked, "Let me guess: the grant proposal got turned down?"

Peter nodded, then read aloud, " 'Dear, Mr. Parker, we are interesting in your proposal, but we regret to inform you that we've met our limit for the year. Sorry, but please try again next year.' " Peter then crumpled the note and threw it at a trashcan. "I worked so hard on it."

Mary Jane sighed and asked, "What now?"

"Well, TriCorp seems to be hiring," Peter noted "I put in an application there just in case the grant proposal got denied and I could continue to work at the Daily Bugle some more or apply for a job at Midtown High since they're looking for teachers. It wouldn't be much, but at least our family would be supported."

"Well, speaking of the Daily Bugle, it seems they've noticed it Spider-Man's absence." Mary Jane handed Peter the latest copy of the Bugle.

Peter furrowed his brow as he looked at the front page. The headline read, SPIDER-MAN: COWARD OR CRIMINAL? Glancing at the story, Peter realized Mary Jane was right—it was about Spider-Man's disappearance. He then shook his head and put the paper down.

"I see Jonah's gotten tired of the old 'Threat or Menace' headline of old," Peter commented, smiling. "Sorry, J.J., old pal, old buddy, but Spidey's staying in the past. You didn't win, but I'll let you think you did, anyway."

"Was that so hard?" Mary Jane asked.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Peter walked over to the door and opened it. There stood a man in a trench coat, holding a badge, a grave look on his face.

"Can I help you?" Peter asked.

"Are you Peter Parker?" the man asked.

"Yes," Peter replied. What could this be about?

"I'm Detective Neil Garrett," the man replied. "Do you know a Dr. Curt Connors?"

"Yeah," Peter replied. "I'd heard he recently moved back. What is this about? Is he in some kind of trouble?"

"A couple of weeks ago," Garrett began, "we got a call about something happening at his residence. When we got there, the place was a mess. The walls were scratched up, pictures and TV were broken, and there was no sign of Connors's family. We tried to interview him, but he was hesitant, then, it seems, left town as we couldn't find him."

Worry and dread began to consume Peter as he heard this. Dr. Connors is missing? He could've have just up and disappeared. That's not like him as all, unless . . . Then he felt his heart sink. Could Dr. Connors have slipped back into Lizard mode and killed his family?

"How do you know Connors?"

"We met while I was in college. I was his teaching assistant for a while."

"Has he contact you recently?"

"No."

"Do you anything about his recent activities?"

"No."

"Well, call me if you find out where he is. He is a person of interest in this case."

"I'll do that."

As Garrett left, Mary Jane walked over and asked, "Peter?"

"Do we still have that box I put that stuff in?" Peter asked suddenly, walking up to the attic.

"Peter, you can't be serious!" Mary Jane said in disbelief as she followed him. "You can't seriously be considering—!"

"He's in trouble," Peter stated as he reached the attic. Looking through boxes, he added, "I need to find out what's going on with him."

Mary Jane shook her head and said, "You just said so yourself—Spider-Man's retired and he wasn't the only superhero in New York. Let someone else take care of this."

"But they don't know Connors personally; I do," Peter stated, pulling out a box. Then he opened the box and got out his Spider-Man costume, having stored it since the battle with Harry. As he started to change into the costume, he added, "It's my duty to find him . . . And stop him if he's lost his battle with his 'other half.' Sorry, M.J., but I gotta do it."

"I understand. If Aunt May or anyone else asks for you, what should I tell them?

"Just tell them I've gone out and I don't know when I'll be back."

Mary Jane sighed, then asked, "Just . . . be careful, okay?"

"I will," Peter said, putting the mask on. Then he opened a window, fired a webline and swung out.

Peter, please come back to me safe and sound, Mary Jane thought worriedly.

***S***

At a Stark Enterprise research center in New York City, two guards sat at a desk, drinking coffee and looking at the monitors and watching what the security camera caught. It's so far been quiet, but that could change. One of the guard was looking at the newspaper known as the Daily Globe. It was reporting about a recent rash of break-ins at other laboratories.

"Think whoever did these robberies will try anything here?" the guard reading the paper said.

The other guard scoffed, then said, "No. After all, chances are Iron Man will swoop down and kick the ass of whoever tired to do that, so just relax."

"I suppose so," the first guard said. "But still . . . you gotta admit that it's weird. Several people have said that they've seen a creature of some kind leave with some vials and stuff. Maybe I should ask for a transfer to some other city."

"Yeah, right," the second guard said.

Suddenly, an alarm went off and the two guards looked at a monitor to see a creature rummage through a lab. From what they could tell, the creature wore tattered clothing and had a tail.

"Where is that?" the first guard asked.

"Lab five," the second replied.

"Quickly, the guards pulled out their guns and ran towards the lab.

Once they got there, saw were able to get a better look at the creature. It looked reptilian and seemed to wear a tattered lab coat. Its eyes were yellow, yet had humanity to them and that humanity showed in his body language. Whatever the creature was looking for, it seemed to be careful and through in what it was dealing with. From what they could see, it seemed to look male.

Immediately, the guard realized who it was—the Lizard.

"Hold it!" the first guard yelled. "Stay right there. The police are on their way, y-you freak show!"

The Lizard looked up and hissed, "No, not now! I have to help them, save them from what I did to them!" With that, the Lizard swung his tail and knocked down the guards.

Quickly recovering, one of the guards grabbed his gun and fired a shot, hitting the Lizard in the shoulder—but the bullet didn't pierce his dense skin. The Lizard roared and grabbed the guard, hoisting him up into the air.

But instead of hurting the guard, the Lizard simply said, "Don't do that." He then threw the guard down and smashed through a window to escape.

***S***

Spider-Man swung down to the house where, according to the phonebook, said Curt Connors was living in. It was empty, aside from a couple of cops standing outside and sipping coffee. That suited Spider-Man just fine as he wasn't in the mood to deal with police yelling and shooting at him.

Sliding a window open, he crawled in and began to search the house, noticing the mess. Starting with Billy's room, he noticed that the mattress was torn to pieces and the frame was smashed apart. Billy's dresser was also smashed to pieces and his clothes and bed sheets were ripped to shreds. Toys were smashed and broken, the pieces scattered all over the floor.

Walking over to the master bedroom, Spider-Man was greeted to a similar sight: bed frame smashed, the mattress was torn up, clothes were scattered and ripped, the dresser and nightstands were smashed, and the lamps were broken. Spider-Man walked to the bathroom to find a broken mirror. Looking on the floor, Spider-Man noticed some stuff on the floor and scooped them up, then looked at them. Under his mask, his eyes widened.

These are lizard scales! Spider-Man thought. So Dr. Connors did transform into the Lizard! What happened? What drove you to become the Lizard—and are you beyond hope this time?

Walking back out to the bedroom, Spider-Man looked around again, but this time, he noticed something odd—there was no blood. Running back to Billy's room, he noticed there was no blood there, too. He then searched the whole house and found, despite the aftermath of carnage, there was no blood anywhere.

Could the Lizard have taken them out of the house to kill them? he thought. Or . . . is it possible that someone kidnapped them and Dr. Connors turned into the Lizard because of the stress. Then Spider-Man felt hopeful. They could still be alive!

Noticing a light blinking on the phone, Spider-Man walked over to it. The phone showed it had two voicemail messages recorded on it. Maybe Dr. Connors's voicemail has some clues, he thought as he pressed a button to play one of them.

"Curt, it's Ted," a voice from the answering machine said. "I'm sorry to do this, but you've been reporting to work late more and more recently, and now you've stopped coming in altogether." Then the voice sighed. "I realize you've got some problems in your life, but I have to do this. Please, don't take it personally, but you're fired. Could you come by and clean out your belongings? Bye."

Spider-Man then scrolled to the second message and played it next.

"Curt, it's Bradley," another voice said from the answering machine. "You and your family haven't made an appointment to my office for weeks now and I'm concerned about this. Please, call me."

Sighing, Spider-Man looked through the caller ID for Throne's number. When he found a number for a Dr. Bradley Throne, he began to look for an address book or a rolodex, hoping to find the doctor's phone number and address. Pulling out a phonebook, he quickly flipped through it, hoping to find the number. He stopped when he found the number, which was listed in the entry for Throne's office.

Spider-Man ripped out the page, then raced back to Billy's bedroom, slipped out, then fired a webline and swung off.

***S***

Somewhere, the creature known as the Lizard sat at a table, working with chemicals and trying to take notes. If someone saw him and could read body language, they'd notice a difference in the Lizard body language than normal for him, showing more humanity. Even looking into his eyes showed more humanity in them.

That's because now the Lizard persona wasn't in control—the Curt Connors persona was.

Working with vials, he was trying an experiment, but it was failing and Curt was getting frustrated about what happened. It was like before in the past. Swinging his arms and throwing several vials crashing onto the floor, Curt lowered his hand into his hands, feeling drained and tired.

"Daddy?" Curt heard a boy's voice called out, concerned.

"You've been shot!" Curt heard a feminine voice called out, horrified. "Curt, are you—?"

Curt looked at the shadows. "I'm fine," he said exhaustedly. "I can heal from the wound in this form. But I failed. I couldn't get the chemicals I needed from Stark Enterprises . . . and my recent experiment failed." Sighing, he apologetically said, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that brought this curse onto us and now . . . onto the two of you."

"Curt?" the feminine voice asked.

"I didn't want to hide you here, but I didn't have a choice," Curt whispered. "I know the stench is . . . unbearable, but I'm trying to undo what I did. I will fix this. That the only way I can stone for what I did to you."

"Curt," the feminine voice murmured, upset and hurt.

"I'm so sorry," Curt whispered. "I don't deserve forgiveness . . . for what I did, but I will make it up to you, I promise."

***S***

The sun was setting as Spider-Man was swinging through the streets, hoping to get to Doctor Throne before he left for the night. He hoped that Throne had some answers that could help find out what was going on with Curt and his family.

"Hey, there you are!" a voice called out. Spider-Man swung the ledge of a building and looked to see Johnny Storm, in Human Torch mode, behind him.

"Johnny, what do you want?" Spider-Man asked impatiently.

"Whoa, cool your jet, Spidey," Johnny said. "It's good to see you back. Where were you? What were you doing and what was up with that imposter?"

"I retired," Spider-Man replied.

Johnny was taken aback by this. "Wait, retired?" he asked. "Why? You don't look retired right now."

"Personal reasons," Spider-Man replied. "I have a family now, Johnny. And I'm only back because someone I know is in trouble. Once I find him and help him, I'm going to retirement."

"You can't retire!" Johnny said. "What about the Scorpion or Rhino? What about the Goblins or Doc Ock What about Venom or—"

"They're someone else's problem now," Spider-Man said. "Once I'm done with this, I'm retiring for good. Look, it was fun at times, but I have a child now, and I gotta put my family first, Johnny. We knew it wasn't always going to last forever."

"So you have a family," Johnny said, annoyed. "Big deal. The F.F. are a family, and Reed and Sue have a son, but you don't see us retiring, do you?"

"I'm not you," Spider-Man said, "and you're not like every other hero. You're explorers and adventurers. That was your life even before you got your powers. Heck, even without your powers, it'd probably still be your life. I don't have that life."

"But, Spidey, people here you. Even if you quit, people are still going to need you. You're more important to people than you realize."

"Like I said, we both knew it wasn't going to last forever." Spider-Man sighed. "I gotta go."

"Spider-Man!" Johnny yelled, but it was too late was Spider-Man swung off.

Swinging away, Spider-Man began to mull over what Johnny said. Johnny had pretty much vocalize a lot of what he was thinking already and that Johnny did have a point about family. The Fantastic Four were a family themselves, but they didn't retire when Franklin was born. Sure, they took time off, but they didn't retire.

Can I balance them? he thought. Can I be a family man and still be Spider-Man? Maybe. Wait, no, I told MJ I wouldn't do this anymore. He scoffed. Yeah, that's why I'm in costume, looking for Doctor Connors and his family, hoping they aren't in trouble. What right do I have to bring this to my family now that I'm a father? Maybe I should've quit sooner, when I first got married.

Swinging onto the wall of a building, Spider-Man crawled the wall and over to a window. He then crawled onto the roof and found an access door there. Going in through the door, Spider-Man leapt onto the ceiling and crawled his wall down to the right floor, then made his way to one of the offices. Once he got into the office he wanted, he clung onto the ceiling waited.

After a few moments, he saw a man in a lab coat walk in and gather some stuff for the night, a worried look on his face. Is that Dr. Throne? Spider-Man thought.

The man saw a guard walked by. The guard stopped and said, Good night, Dr. Throne."

"Good night, Christopher," Bradley Throne said. He then finished packing some stuff and made this way to the door.

Stopping Throne, Spider-Man asked, "Are you Dr. Throne?"

Bradley spun around and looked to see Spider-Man leap onto the floor. "Spider-Man?" he asked, surprised. "But you're gone! The papers said that you're missing! Why are you here? I did nothing wrong!"

"Yeah, I read," Spider-Man said, "and I'm not after for you. Well, I am here to talk to you, though. I'm here to ask you about Curt Connors."

"Why?" Bradley asked. "What is it to you?"

"He's a friend of mine and I think he needs help," Spider-Man replied.

Bradley sighed. "Some cops came by here, too, asking about him."

"I listened to his answering machine. What was that about an appointment?"

Throne sighed. "I was treating his wife and son after they'd gotten sick. They had contracted terminal cancer not too long ago and I was the one who discovered it."

That could've triggered his recent transformation, Spider-Man thought. Stress from that probably would've made him snap.

"I was treating them one day when I noticed something odd in their blood work. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but during their next—and final—appointment, they somehow miraculously got better. It looked like they might live after all. I asked Curt to make another appointment just in case, though, but he never did. So I grew concerned and called him, but he never called back."

"I . . . see," Spider-Man said, perplexed. "Thanks, Doctor." Opening a window, Spider-Man leapt out and fired a webline, swinging away.

Swinging away, Spider-Man thought, That doesn't make any sense, though. If they were indeed getting better, wouldn't that have taken the edge off of Dr. Connors and calm him down? Maybe the Lizard got too far along for Connors to stop. I don't know. Maybe I should get some civvies and swing by the Bugle to see if there's been any signs of the Lizard anywhere.

***S***

At a forensics lab, Carlie Cooper, a technician, was working on one of the book related to the Connors case, hoping that what's in it could lead to answers to the case. She'd read about some of Connors's work. So far, she felt what she was reading was fascinating and a good way to get into Connors's mind.

At that moment, Detective Garrett walked in and asked, "Do you have anything on those books and board yet?"

Carlie nodded and replied, "I was able to understand what was said in those notebooks and chalkboards you handed us. I think I know what Connors was working on before he disappeared."

"Well?" Garrett asked.

"He was working on something and it seems he was driven, but whatever it was, it was not something to hurt people, I believe," Carlie asked. "Or if it was to hurt people, the only one he was hurting was himself at times."

"How do you figure?" Garrett asked.

"From what I could read, it seems medical or genetic in nature," Carlie said. "Maybe it was both. From what we could tell, it seems that Connors was researching cancer, studying it, and making notes about it and experiments he was working on related to it."

"That makes sense. According to Dr. Throne, his family had gotten cancer lately, so that would explain his research into it. But that doesn't explain the genetics stuff. Where does that stuff come into play?"

"Our studies on that are unfinished at the moment, but it seems he might have been trying to use his prior research into lizard DNA in this case." Carlie shook her head. "It seems he was also trying to find a cure of his own condition as well."

"The Lizard," Garrett murmured. "That actually explain a lot of the damage at the house. That doesn't explain where his wife and son are, though."

"If they did die, it wasn't at the house."

"How do you figure?"

"There was no blood. If he killed them there, then there should be blood from the bodies."

Garrett sighed, then threw down a couple of bags onto the table.

Carlie picked up the bags and looked at then, then at Garrett, "What are those?"

"What do they look like?"

"Lizard scales."

"Check them for DNA. I have a bad feeling Connors lapsed into being the Lizard again."

***S***

At the Daily Bugle, Peter walked into the news room to see John Jonah Jameson once again ranting and arguing with Joe "Robbie" Robertson. He knew it was probably about the recent headline. Betty Brant was working on a story and Ben Urich was about to leave.

Just like old time, Peter thought with a smile. Seeing Ben about to run past him, he said, "Hey, Ben."

"Sorry, Peter, no time," Ben said. "I got a story I'm working on and I've gotta meet a cop about Curt Connors. I think you know him."

"I see," Peter said. "Well, I'll let you go, then." He then walked over to Betty.

Seeing Peter, Betty smiled. "Hey, Peter," she said. "What brings you by here?"

"I'm trying to see if there's a story I could work on," Peter replied, feeling ashamed.

"Your grant proposal got turned down, I take it?" Betty asked.

Peter nodded.

"Well, there have been a rash of burglaries recently at some labs," Betty said. "Each time, several chemicals and pieces of equipment are stolen. Several people who worked at those places that were there reported seeing a creature there."

"What . . . kind of creature?" Peter asked, already dreading the answer.

"The guards at Stark Enterprises reported that it looked like a man-lizard hybrid and wearing a lab coat," Betty replied. "I'm beginning to suspect that there's connection between it and Connors's disappearance, seeing as he does transform into the Lizard."

"Can I see what you have so far?" Peter asked.

"Why?" Betty asked. "You thinking of coming back to work here? I could use a photographer to take pictures of the scene."

"No, I don't think I'm coming back," Peter said. "But it is . . . important. I'm trying to find Connors and I think you're right about yours and Ben's stories being connected."

"Parker, what are you doing here?" a voice yelled out.

Peter looked to see Jonah stomp his way towards him. Smiling, Peter said, "Hey, Jonah. I was just—"

"You don't work here anymore, Parker!" Jonah yelled. "You're loitering. Why are you here? Have you could to bag for your job back? Well, do you have any blasted idea of where that wall-crawling piece of smile hid himself?"

"Leave him alone," Robbie said. "Peter was probably visiting old friends. Besides, you won—Spider-Man left the city. Why must you continue, especially with headlines that go too far?"

"It's not too far!" Jonah yelled. "He's realized he's not wanted here anymore! Now we must find out and help the police put him away!"

"Oh, I must've missed when asking 'coward or criminal' about a missing man in a headline wasn't too far!" Robbie commented. "He's gone! Just take it at that!"

"He's a menace!" Jonah yelled. "Both of them and the so-called Scarlet Spider were!"

"No, they weren't!" Robbie yelled back. "And crime rate is up since their disappearances! The city needs them."

"Ah, old times," Peter said with a fond smile. "Look, Betty, I'll just look in archives."

"You sure you don't wanna help?" Betty asked.

"It's not for me anymore, Betty," Peter said. "See you later."

With that, Peter made his way to the archives room, then sat down at a computer and started to look up the thefts that betty was talking about earlier. Stark Enterprises wasn't the first place that was hit by the creature—other labs, including those owned by OsCorp and Hammer Industries were also been hit by the creature. Each time, the creature took stuff, but made sure not to seriously hurt anyone.

That doesn't make sense for the Lizard persona, Peter thought. Normally, outside of family, he wouldn't hesitate to hurt anyone, but here when the two guards at Stark confronted him, he merely hit them, threw one onto the floor after getting shot and escaped. The Lizard persona would've gone out of his way to hurt them. What's going on?

***S***

Tony Stark looked at the security footage about the robbery that happened, studying what he could. The two guards that were there were also present. Tony had read about the related break-ins that involved the creature, too. Several police officers were also present, including Detective William Lamont.

"It was huge," one of the guards said.

"We got that," Lamont said. "From the looks of it, it seems that Connors has lapsed into being the Lizard again."

"That's one of Spider-Man foes, though," Tony said. "Why would he be interested in one of my building?"

"He was," Lamont stated. "The web-head hasn't been seen for a few weeks now and that's allowed for some of his own foes to run amok with barely any control or anyone keeping them in check. Daredevil and some other are trying to fill the void, but it's clear the web-head's gone."

"I see," Tony murmured.

"We'll look into it, but we think he likely might be working alone and not conjunction with anyone else, Mister Stark," Lamont said, "if you're wondering if someone with a history of attacking your company is behind these break-ins, Mister Stark."

Grabbing his briefcase, Tony said, "Thanks, but I'm still gonna have Iron Man look into the case."

Leaving the room, Tony walked down a corridor, then out a door into a secluded area of the lab. Setting the briefcase down, Tony opened it, revealing his Iron Man armor inside. Pulling the armor on, Tony walked outside. Then he activated his jetboots and took to the air.

Okay, Connors, wherever you are, prepare to deal with Iron Man, he thought.

To Be Continued . . .