Pain. The stump of his right arm screamed with it as he pumped the green liquid into his bloodstream. He ground his teeth, holding back a cry. Human trials were months away, but necessity drove him. He needed to know if it worked. Done. The syringe was empty; its contents now slithering through him. Working? He did not know. It felt like acid in his veins, and his vision blurred. His muscles contracted simultaneously, then his body went limp, and his consciousness left him.
Dr. Curtis Connors awoke some time later and sat up. He briefly wondered why he had fallen asleep at his desk and pulled himself in the swivel chair he occupied closer to the desk. He intended to set his right arm stump on top of his work surface, but when he tried, something caught on the desk's underside. He almost did not dare to look, but he could do nothing else. He could feel new tissue and bones; his experiment had succeeded! He almost could not believe it. He had to see it for himself. Trembling with anticipation and fear, he drew the extension of his arm on top of his desk. It was incredible. The green scales of the lizard whose DNA had built the base of his serum made a sheath about his brand new arm. He ran the fingers of his left hand over the leathery casing. It was soft to the touch and pulled away easily, revealing near-transparent, slimy fingers. He eagerly tore away the remaining lizard skin and lifted his regenerated appendage, slowly moving the fleshy digits, exploring the capacity of the muscles. He smiled, close to tears; how he had longed for this day, even lived for this day. His world had revolved around the creation of this serum since that wartime explosion had violently stolen his arm, and now it had become a reality. It was nowhere near ready for human testing, and the decision to test it on himself had gone against everything he knew, but he had come so very far, and he was about to lose everything. His research and his job unjustly ripped away from him by Norman Osborne's puppet, Rajit Ratha, a detestable man who did not know the meaning of respect. To test a newly developed drug on hospitalized veterans? Despicable. It worked, but how well? His body shook as he rose to his feet. He picked up the phone to call Ratha, to stop him somehow, but he got his secretary instead. Ratha had already left; he was on his way. Dr. Connors slammed down the phone and staggered to the door, racing as quickly as he could out to the street to catch a cab. With the old, familiar weight of his right arm once again pulling on his shoulder and the mind-numbing aches overtaking his weak form, he did not think about its frailty until he tried to open the cab door and his tender fingers slipped on the handle. He cradled the baby appendage against his side and pulled the door open with his left hand.
"Take me to the Veteran's Hospital!" Urgency taunted him as he forced the words out of his mouth. "And take the bridge."
He would make it in time. The serum was wreaking havoc on his body. He curled into himself and groaned. First glance showed his right hand unchanged from how it had first appeared, but a closer look, not a second later, revealed green scales spreading up his arm from his now claw-like fingertips. How many men had he watched die in that war, now so long ago, while he stood helpless to save them? How many had he operated on that simply had not the strength to keep living? And now some stuffy business man, who could not even begin to comprehend the horrors of war, was going to inject a hospital full of those who had survived and were still hanging on with an under-tested drug that did this to the human body? NO. Dr. Connors would by no means allow it. He felt a feverish rage rise up to accompany the burning in his skin as it turned from pale, soft human skin, to the rough, green scales of a reptile. Suddenly, his blood ran like ice within him and he felt nothing but raw power and insatiable wrath. He grew larger and stronger with every second, and he burst from the cab, covered with dragon's armor, invincible, complete, beautiful... and quite large.