Chapter 2: Savage Metamorphosis
It was finally done.
All of the hard work, all of the struggling. All of the promises, all of the deals…everything had finally come together into perfect completion.
Well, not perfect, in the sense that he still needed to test it, but after the long, hard, years he had spent slaving away at this obsession of his that last thing seemed like such a triviality.
Dr. Curt Connors thought back to how it had all happened: back to the dry, dusty, sun-soaked lands of the middle-east, where one wrong step resulted in a lost or thoroughly ruined life. And as it so happened he, who in a cruel twist was trying to save victims of terrorists and their various guns, bombs, and land mines, had lost his arm while there. Nothing had felt the same after that.
For months afterwards, Dr. Connors remembered being in a catatonic state, still far too physically weak to do much with himself, and too shell-shocked and emotionally crushed to teach. Eventually he recovered enough to teach again but it wasn't the same. He had lost his passion it seemed, his fire. He would go through it all in a depressed, dreamlike state. All of the times when he would wake up in the night grabbing for his lost arm…
Dr. Connors shook the unpleasant memories out of his head and returned to the moment at hand. No. He couldn't wait. It had to be now. He had to see this through to the end. He couldn't bear being denied his salvation any longer.
But, Dr. Connors decided, he would at least take the time to share his victory with someone he knew would understand…
-X-
He saw her again.
Her beautiful face, her long flowing hair. Her warm smile that always made him blush and get ten times more awkward then he usually was. She held out her hand for him to take it. He pulled her close to him. They could be together. They would always be together, no matter what.
Screams, he heard screams. Panicking. Something exploded. A woman's voice cried out. Her voice. He tried to save her...
Peter's eyes opened and he practically jolted forward in his bed as he was awakened by the sound of a ringing phone. Peter leaned over and grabbed the phone. He put it to his ear and asked: "Yes, hello? This is Peter Parker, is there something you need?"
"Yes, Peter? It's me, Dr. Connors."
"Doctor Connors? Uh, hello. Look, I was busy sleeping…"
"Oh, I'm so sorry about that. No, I just wanted to tell you that I've finally finished something I've been working on for years and I just thought that you could be the first one to see it"
"Well, congratulations, but again, this is a bad time…"
"Oh yes, of course. So sorry about my intrusion. I'll give you some time to get ready…just be sure to come over sometime soon"
And with that, Connors hung up, leaving Peter wondering what it was that the good doctor had finished. He looked over at his alarm clock and saw it that was around the time he would have woken up anyway. Heaving a sigh that was mixed with a yawn, Peter forced himself out of bed the same way one might try to scrape a sticky substance off the ground with a large shovel and hobbled over to where his closet was. One change of clothes later along with the now instinctual move of packing his Spider-Man costume just in case, Peter went down to get breakfast.
When he and Mary Jane had been together, she had gotten some new recipes for them to try out, but Peter had long since misplaced them after Mary Jane had left and no longer remembered that which Mary Jane had taught him. One hackneyed and bitter-tasting breakfast later courtesy of his inept cooking and Peter was out the door and off to Empire State University to see Dr. Connors little pet project.
As a science nerd through and through, Peter couldn't help but be just a little bit curious about what it was that Connors had concocted. He had said that it had been something that he had been working on for quite some time, so that increased Peter's anticipation all the more. But what was it? Peter still couldn't figure it out. Knowing Dr. Connors, it was likely something pertaining to physics or genetics, which gave Peter some kind of idea on what it might be. Then, it suddenly hit him what it was, and Peter mentally kicked himself for not figuring it out sooner. Doctor Connors had certainly mentioned it enough times back during Peter's college days for him to guess what it was.
The cure.
By the time Peter had come to this realization, he was already at ESU's doors. He opened them and walked in, making his way through the familiar halls as he went to Connor's office. As he did, he walked into a familiar red-haired man with crimson-colored shades and a walking stick…
Peter quickly passed him and turned around the corner to head in the direction of Connor's office. When he arrived, he found the door unlocked. Peter opened it and headed on in, and was indeed greeted by Dr. Connors, who looked more excited than Peter had ever seen him before. He was holding in his one hand an injection gun with a vial inserted in it. The vial was filled with a strange fluid that was of no color Peter had ever seen before, and it was filled all the way. Dr. Connors beamed with pride at it before then turning to Peter: "Ah, Peter, I'm so glad you could come. But please, shut the door. I want this to be private."
"Uh…sure" Peter walked over and shut the door as Dr. Connors continued: "Now Peter, you know how I lost my arm several years ago while doing aid relief in the Middle East? And how I've always wanted so desperately to get it back? Not just for me, but for the good of all those with injuries like mine?"
"Yes, yes I do. And I think I know what that vial there is…that's the cure for missing limbs that you've spent years trying to make, am I right?"
"Indeed you are Peter. With this, I can not only regain my lost arm, but once I mass-produce this, millions like me will also regain their missing limbs…a definite improvement over expensive and clumsy prosthetics"
"But how does it work? I mean, its one little vial…"
"Yes, one little vial of reptile DNA. As I believe you know Peter, many a lizard can re-grow lost limbs. A truly remarkable feat. I wondered if perhaps it could be replicated via cross-species genetics. My initial attempts were unsuccessful, all of my earliest serums of Lizard-DNA weren't potent enough to affect another living creature's genetic structure. And then after that there were the subjects who died from injections. Their bodies rejected it you see. But finally, I created a stable enough DNA concoction where the genetic material actually holds together instead of breaking apart without also killing the host. I then set about making it actually mesh with mammalian DNA. No easy feat mind you. But when I tested my latest batch on one of my tail-less mice, something amazing happened: the mouse's tail re-grew! Granted, it took a little longer than it would for an actual lizard, but its tail re-grew all the same! I knew then that this was the one. And it was about then when I first called you."
"Well, that's all really interesting Dr. Connors, but…a human being is a serious leap up from a tail-less mouse don't you think?"
"Peter, you know better than that. We're both mammals, and a good bit of our DNA structure is the same. Between that, I'm fairly confident this will work…"
"And how do you plan on testing it…?"
"Why, with myself of course! I'm the perfect test subject! Besides, I'd never ask this of another person with my kind of injury…"
"WHAT? Dr. Connors you can't be serious. It could be risky…"
"Nonsense Peter. At worst, nothing will happen to me. This is hardly a toxic solution"
"But Dr. Connors…"
But before Peter could do a thing to stop him, Dr. Curt Connors had already injected the serum into the stump where his arm once was. Peter looked on helplessly as every last drop of the liquid drained into Connor's arm. Connors let out a gasp of pain and staggered before regaining his composure. Peter could see Connors manage a confident smile as Peter continued to stare at him incredulously.
"Dr. Connors…"
"I feel perfectly fine Peter. I'll call you back once I see any change in my missing arm…"
"I might not be coming back…"
And before Connors could give any kind of response to that, Peter hurried out the door, still taken-aback by what Connors had so willingly and eagerly done to himself. Peter couldn't help but be a little bit scared by it. After his own experiences with mixing his DNA with that of another animals, he couldn't help but expect the worst…
-X-
Nearly a week passed and eventually, Peter's nervousness about what Dr. Connors had done to himself gradually left his mind, and soon, Peter had forgotten it completely. He had continued on with his life, as was, and that life had actually become pretty uneventful by his usual standards, right up until the day he got a phone call from Martha Connors while at the Daily Bugle. And Peter didn't like what he heard either.
"What do you mean he's gone missing?"
"He just left one day and I haven't seen him since. I searched everywhere and there's no sign of him. He's just vanished. I checked his office at ESU and everything's gone: his notes, the chemicals he was working on, everything. Just vanished into thin air. Peter I don't know what to do, but it's been almost a week now and Billy and I are worried sick…"
At that moment J. Jonah Jameson was calling Peter into his office but Peter didn't listen. Instead he did his best to reassure Martha Connors: "I understand Mrs. Connors, don't worry, I'll see what I can do"
I'm telling you Peter, something is very wrong here…"
"I know Mrs. Connors, I know. I'll figure out what's going on, I promise…"
"PARKER! GET IN HERE!"
Peter sighed and walked into J. Jonah Jameson's office where "the jolly one" as Peter called him was sitting in office chair, looking as he usually did when he called Peter in: frowning, impatient, demanding, frustrated, and with his trademark brand of cigar planted firmly between his teeth. It was a sight that Peter should have been used to by this point, but instead he was always left exasperated by his boss's eternally irritable persona.
"Boss I was on the phone with an old friend of mine, and she's worried about her husband…"
"Well let me play you a sad song on the world's smallest violin Parker. Listen up: The Bugle's been getting reports about some kind of green-skinned man running around New York City, and it ain't the Hulk! As you're our best photographer (actually you're our only photographer right now…) I want you to go downtown where this thing was last sighted, figure out what the hell it is, and return with a couple of photos while you're at it. Understood?"
"Yes JJ..."
"Good, now get going! Can't have that cheap excuse for a paper the Globe beating us to the punch!"
And so, Peter was out the door, realizing that this "green-skinned man" might just be Dr. Connors, which got him off to a good start as far as finding out what had happened to the good doctor went. Nevertheless, Peter found himself incredibly frustrated with how he had so badly forgotten about Connors and with it the risks of what he had done to himself.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should have remembered that the regeneration takes a while! And now that I've forgotten Dr. Connors could be in serious trouble…
The second Peter was out of sight, he changed into his Spider-Man costume and swung off, heading downtown to look for this "green-skinned man" Upon arriving in the downtown area, he changed back into his street clothes, took out his camera, and made his way through the throngs of pedestrians as he attempted to locate what could very easily be Dr. Connors having undergone some kind of physical change as a result of making himself his own experiment's guinea pig. The more he thought about it, the more Peter cursed himself for not being able to stop Connors from injecting himself with that serum when he had the chance.
Finally, after what felt like over an hour of fruitless searching, Peter's spider-sense began going off, suggesting that there was something dangerous nearby. Peter looked around and spotted a man who was walking in a desperate, almost struggling fashion. The man had also gone to great lengths to conceal his features, although Peter could still make out a patch of exposed skin. And it was green. Peter realized that this was almost certainly the "green-skinned man" and discreetly followed him. And indeed, the further they went, the more it became clear where the man was headed. And that in turn fully confirmed in Peter's mind that it was indeed Dr. Connors.
He's going back to ESU
With this realization, Peter quickened his pace as he kept up his pursuit of Dr. Connors until at last they arrived at ESU. Peter did his best to keep his distance as he watched Connors force his way into the building, nearly ripping one of the double doors off its hinges. Peter's fear increased all the more as he saw this. Not only did it mean that Connors had gotten stronger since taking the serum, but he'd also gotten much more vicious. Peter waited until Connors disappeared completely into the building before rushing in after him. He sped through the halls, nearly bowling over a janitor as he did so, and ran to Connor's office as quickly as he could. Finally, he arrived at the office and burst in.
"DR. CONNORS!"
But Dr. Connors wasn't there. Peter looked around the room. Martha Connors hadn't been lying or exaggerating when she said that everything had vanished into thin air. Almost everything was gone, to the point where it was completely unrecognizable as Dr. Connor's office. The only things still there aside from the table and chairs was a small television set and a tape that Peter had never seen in the office before. Curious, Peter put the tape into the VCR and played it.
The video was actually a recorded science log by Dr. Connors regarding his experiments. The good first portion of the video were mostly things that Peter already knew. Seeing that the first few recordings had also been made years ago, Peter fast-forwarded the video until he got to the recordings made that year and the one before. With these last few recordings, Peter bore witness to experiment after experiment, and each one was more disturbing than the last. It became clear that Connors had become obsessed with his pet project, even stooping to amputating mice tails to give himself more test subjects so he wouldn't have to wait for new amputees to come naturally. Peter could also see that with each new video Connors looked more and more haggard. More exhausted. Dark circles formed around his eyes, which themselves became bloodshot. His hair at times seemed unkempt, and a stubble had grown over his normally clean-shaven face.
"This is insane…"
Peter's spider-sense alerted him to Connors presence before his voice did: "Yes, it is…and I was too blind to see it..."
Peter's heart skipped a beat and he whipped around to face Dr. Connors. Once he did Peter saw to his horror just what the serum had done to him: he now had his missing arm back, but his skin was also now scaly and mottled, with many areas indeed now green. But these were not the only changes to his appearance: his nails had become almost claw-like, and most disturbing of all, Peter could see that Connors was beginning to grow a muscular green tail…
"Oh my God…Dr. Connors…"
"This was all a terrible mistake Peter…I tried to undo this…tried to run and find some place quiet and away where I could fix this…without people noticing, but…it's too late…need…to reverse this…there's only one thing left…"
"What is it?"
"A…gene cleanser…I designed it to eliminate any non-mammalian DNA in a human being…in case you ever wanted to give up being Spider-Man…"
Peter's eyes widened in horror as he was taken completely off-guard by this revelation.
"Oh yes…I've known that you were Spider-Man for quite some time…why did you think I was so lenient with you regarding your late assignments? I knew that you were busy helping people out there…I wanted to help the world too…in my own special way…but now, I…ARGH!" Dr. Connors howled in pain, sinking to his knees and clutching his head tightly with his clawed hands. He began to growl, and Peter could see his hair beginning to fall off of his head.
"Dr. Connors…"
Suddenly, Connors looked up at Peter, and Peter could see that his eyes had become reptilian, and his former look of pain and agony had been replaced with anger and hatred.
"NOT CONNORS! I LIZARD!"
And as Peter looked on, Connors mutated even further, screaming in pain as his skin became completely green and scaly, his tail became longer and more muscular, and his lab coat was completely torn off. The Lizard was born.
Peter attempted to move out of the way in time but the Lizard viciously charged him and sent him flying across the lab with one swing of an arm. Peter crashed into the wall and the Lizard burst out of the room, running on all fours through the hallways of ESU's science building.
Meanwhile, Peter struggled to force himself up, his body sore all over from the blow. Thankfully no bones felt fractured or broken. Peter staggered to his feet, and rushed over to the backpack he had stored his Spider-Man costume in. Peter hastily changed and swung off after Lizard. As he made his way through the halls Spider-Man could already hear the screams of terror coming from the janitor Peter had bumped into earlier and the Lizard's roars in response to it.
Spider-Man fired a few web bullets at Lizard to draw his attention to him, and then prepared himself as Lizard leaped at him. Spider-Man leaped over Lizard as the beast dived at him, and then leaped to a nearby wall as Lizard turned and ran at him again. Spidey then dived to the ground as Lizard attempted to claw at the wall and fired some webbing at the Lizard's back to pull him down to the ground. Using all of his and the webbing's strength, Spider-Man was able to pull Lizard down, and then leaped over Lizard's sweeping tail to deliver a mighty kick to the Lizard's skull.
Lizard roared in pain and staggered from the blow, and Spidey delivered several more quick strikes to keep the Lizard back before leaping out of the way to avoid Lizard's counter-attack, firing some webbing into his eyes as he did so. Lizard tore off the webbing and ran at Spider-Man in a frenzy. Spider-Man chose to keep up the chase, in the hope that he could lead him away from anyone else who might be in the building.
Unfortunately, the narrow corridors of ESU were ill-suited for Spider-Man's web-slinging, and also ensured that his speed and agility were not enough to outrun Lizard either. Lizard tackled Spider-Man, who kicked him as hard as he could, forcing him to release his grip. Lizard quickly regained his footing and went at Spider-Man again, who did his best to dodge all of Lizard's blows. But another swing of Lizard's tail sent Spider-Man sailing through the air and out a nearby window. Spider-Man staggered to his feet and fired some more webbing at Lizard as incentive to pursue him, which Lizard seemed more than eager to do. And so Spider-Man ran for it, firing some webbing at the nearby physics building to swing into the air as Lizard went after him. Spidey made Lizard follow him to the nearby fountain where their fight began anew.
It was about then however, when Spider-Man realized that he needed to get the gene cleanser Curt Connors had mentioned, otherwise Connors would remain in his Lizard form. Spidey cursed himself for his stupidity in putting himself so far from the science building and realized that he would now have to swing all the way back over to the building.
But as he was thinking this, Lizard kept up his vicious assault, pouncing on Spider-Man and attempting to break his neck or shatter his skull when a red club sailed through the air and struck him in the temple, disorienting him and enraging him further. Spider-Man took advantage of his distraction and kicked Lizard off of him as he turned to see who the newcomer was. It took only an instant for Spider-Man to recognize him as Daredevil, the Man Without Fear.
Daredevil ran over to Spider-Man as he took to webbing Lizard to the ground. Spidey had known Daredevil for years, and if he couldn't get Captain America or the Fantastic Four to come to his aid, he'd settle for his old buddy.
"Thanks for the save DD. But Lizzie here isn't done for. He needs to be cured, changed back into a human. I need you to rush into the science building and grab a vial of serum called a "gene cleanser" that's in Dr. Curt Connor's lab…"
Spider-Man was interrupted when Lizard, having broken free of Spider-Man's webbing lunged at him again, and Daredevil had to push Spidey out of the way, which caused Lizard to tackle him instead. Spider-Man fired several strands of webbing at Lizard's back and arms and tugged on them to pull Lizard back and keep him at bay as he shouted out to Daredevil:
"GO! Gene Cleanser in Curt Connor's lab! Science Building, hurry!"
Daredevil nodded and ran off in the direction of the science building as Spider-Man struggled to keep the Lizard restrained.
"Dr. Connors, if you can hear me in there then please listen to me! You need to stop struggling right now!"
But Dr. Connors could not hear him. Only the Lizard was there, and the Lizard had no interest in listening to Spider-Man's pleas. Lizard struggled to break free of Spider-Man's restraining webbing, and slowly but surely he began to tear it. Spider-Man pulled harder, desperate to keep the Lizard restrained long enough for Daredevil to get the gene cleanser, but Lizard was finally able to tear free of the webbing completely, and went after Spider-Man with a single-minded fury. Spider-Man leaped out of the way of Lizard's pounce, but was then tripped by a swing of the Lizard's tail as he landed. Lizard then tackled him. Spider-Man rolled in an attempt to get Lizard off of him but it was no use. As he had him pinned, Lizard roared at him and struggled to break his grapple with Spider-Man. But Spider-Man wouldn't let up, and kept Lizard's arms locked with his own.
"Come on DD…hurry up…"
Finally, Lizard was able to break the grapple and began to viciously punch Spider-Man when Daredevil ran up from behind with the gene cleanser inserted into the injection gun. But Lizard saw him coming in time and smacked him away with a swing of his tail. Daredevil went flying and the gene cleanser plummeted. Seeing this, Spider-Man fired a strand of webbing at it with his free hand and pulled it towards him. Lizard's attention then returned to Spider-Man where he lunged at him again. At that moment, Spider-Man forcefully injected Lizard with the gene cleanser by getting the injection gun right up in Lizard's mouth and emptying all of it's contents into said mouth.
Lizard roared in pain at feeling the gene cleanser run through his system. Spider-Man watched Lizard stagger violently before finally collapsing on the ground unconscious. As Spider-Man looked on, he could see the gene cleanser already begin to work it's magic: Lizard's green skin started to lose its color, the claws on his hands and feet retracted, and even the tail seemed to be losing a bit of its musculature. As Daredevil recovered, Spider-Man turned to him.
"Help me get him back inside"
"Will do. And sorry I took so long. But for obvious reasons it's not so easy for me to find specific items lying about."
-X-
By the time Spider-Man and Daredevil dragged Lizard back into Curt Connor's office, the gene cleanser was already nearly finished with purging the reptilian DNA. It would not be long before it was completely out of Curt Connor's system. As Spider-Man watched Lizard slowly but surely revert to his human form, he turned to Daredevil and explained to him what had happened, telling him the story of Curt Connors right up until his transformation into the Lizard.
"...and now that he's human again, I don't think that we should turn Dr. Connors in for this. It's not his fault."
"Well, then whose is it? Did Dr. Connors willingly turn himself into that thing?"
"Not exactly. Yes, he willingly injected himself with a serum that turned him into the Lizard, but he had no way of knowing that that serum would turn him into a giant monster."
"Did you have any reason to think that it might?"
"Well…I don't think I was thinking of this specifically, but I did have a gut feeling that something bad would happen…but he injected himself with it before I could do anything to stop him."
"Well…it sounds to me that he might have known that there would be risks and yet he went through with it anyway…still, I might agree with you here. I don't think Dr. Connors deserves to be locked up for this…but how one will explain the destroyed window, the ransacked office, and the nearly week-long disappearance of an ESU professor might all be rather difficult…"
"You're a lawyer right? Can't you think of something?"
"Perhaps. But I think that the good doctor here will need to make his own explanation for where he's been for the last few days. That I cannot help him with. The other damage is one thing, but he needs to make his own alibi."
"Fine…I agree. But what are you doing here anyway? I mean, aren't you a little far from Hell's Kitchen?"
"I teach a class in criminal justice here. I was actually in the process of grading some papers when I overheard your drag-out fight with the Lizard. Though in all fairness I could have heard it from a mile away. But tell me: how did Connors turn into the Lizard exactly? You said he injected himself with something and that it backfired, but how specifically did it backfire?"
"Well, think of it this way: when I got my powers, it was because my biology was changed along with my DNA. It was that biology change that allowed me to use those super-spider's abilities…with Dr. Connors, the serum of DNA gave him the ability to re-grow his lost limb…but there needed to be a biology change to make it work…and a more drastic one in his case…"
"One might say you're the lucky one."
"In that I'm not a man-sized brown-furred eight-legged monster laying sacs? Yeah, I would say so."
-X-
Shocker sat there impatiently as he watched his mysterious "benefactor" continue to fiddle with a vial of the strangely-colored serum that he held between his fingers. Finally, though, his artificially masked voice spoke up:
"It was definitely fortunate that Dr. Curt Connors had a second vial of this reptile DNA serum he designed…and after his experience with this serum I don't think he'll be missing it. As for me, well, I could certainly find many a use for this little serum…I wouldn't be unwilling to duplicate it for instance…"
"Duplicate it? Didn't the scientist who injected himself with that crap turn into a Lizard monster?"
"Yes, and that's exactly why I would make more of this serum. Just imagine an army or at the very least, a small squad of reptilian soldiers at my finger-tips…"
"You're completely insane."
"That depends entirely on your point of view. I prefer to think of myself as…determined."