"Who is Spider-Man?" The Daily Bugle, a famous media company in New York. "I'll tell you who he is. He's a menace. People thought he was gone for good, but he's come back." The man saying this was the one who ran it. Edward Jamesith, in his mid-forties and had perfectly groomed black hair.
"Menace? You can't be serious?" His trusted employee and friend, Dennis Martin, who was about the same age with a buzz-cut hairstyle.
"I'm dead serious. That's what the headlines of the news will be." Edward said. "I don't know who he is, but this Spider-Man thinks he's above the law. He's causing trouble. The Daily Bugle always said he was a menace and I'm going to continue the tradition."
"But he saved that poor boy and stopped that crazy flyer who called himself Tricker." Dennis said.
"You don't think that's strange he showed up. He probably staged the whole thing." Edward said. "This is what I want the headlines to say."
…
Midtown High
"Spider-Man: Threat or Menace? You've got to be kidding me." Thomas said as he was looking over the news as the bell rang. Right when it did, Paul went running in the science class.
"Whew. That was close." Paul said.
"I'll say." Harris said as Paul sat with him. "You've been almost late the past few days, Paul. What's going on with you?" Paul took the role of Spider-Man for a few days and he still had much to learn to maintain a normal and her life.
"Just been helping out with Mr. Parker is all." Paul said.
"This is a joke." Thomas said as Paul turned to face him.
"What's wrong? You learning you're not the star you thought you were." Paul said.
"Can it, Porter." Thomas said. "This Daily Bugle garbage is saying Spider-Man is some sort of threat."
"You can't be serious!" Paul said as he took Thomas' tablet and read over it. "This is unbelievable."
"Wow. Who would have guessed you and Thomas actually agree on something." Harris said.
"Settle down, class." Mr. Coles said. "I'm passing back last week's test. Some of you did pretty well. Others are going to need to work harder." He passed the test over to Thomas.
"Sweet. C-." Thomas said. When Jean got hers, she quickly hid it away. "What did you get?"
"Oh! Same as usual." Jean said. Paul got his test back, but he didn't do so well on his.
"Oh man." Paul said.
"Too bad you can't magically change your grades like you have with yourself." Harris said.
'No. What's too bad is that my spider powers didn't increase my brain power.' Paul thought.
…
ESU Labs
Dr. Walters was in the middle of his own work on the computer and seemed to have been deep in thought on something he was working on. He heard the doors open up and quickly closed his computer as Peter walked inside.
"Mr. Parker! What are you doing here?" Walters asked.
"I brought that data you asked for." Peter said as he handed Walters a drive.
"Thank you. It's nice to see an old brain is still a scientific one." Walters said.
"I must ask. Why do you need the data of biological transmutation?" Peter asked.
"Sorry, but that's confidential." Walters said. "I'm just glad you agreed to help. I heard you always enjoyed helping out at ESU whenever you could."
"That is true." Peter said. "As scientists, we should do our best to progress and explore."
"I couldn't agree more and with what I have planned, it will be a true progress." Walters said. He seemed pretty set on this secret project, but what could he work on at a college.
…
Midtown High
The class bell rang and that marked the end of class and everyone was on their way out. Paul was on the way out as well.
"Mr. Porter, could you hang back for a minute? You too, Miss Gosmin." Mr. Coles said. Jean didn't want to, but she didn't have a choice. She also seemed nervous
"Go ahead. I'll catch up." Jean told Thomas and he did just that and it was just the two of them with the teacher.
"Mr. Porter, you haven't been doing so well in my class lately. We need to get those grades up." Mr. Coles said. "I highly recommend you get a tutor."
"Okay, but what does this have to do with Jean?" Paul asked.
"She's the tutor I'm recommending." Mr. Coles said and that was a shock to Paul and she was acting reserved.
"Jean? You can't be serious. Jean usually gets C's and D's." Paul said.
"All except my class. She's one of my best students." Mr. Coles said. "In fact, she actually got a perfect score on the test."
"Shh. Not so loud." Jean said.
"You can't be serious." Paul said.
"Paul, I should really think about this if I were you." Mr. Coles said and left the two to talk.
"So you're really a science genius?" Paul asked, but Jean appeared to be a shamed. "How are you so good?"
"I don't know. My parents say I'm like a science prodigy." Jean said. "Look Pauli, I'll tutor you, but you better not tell anyone about this. If anyone asks, you're tutoring me."
"Why would you want to hide this?" Paul asked.
"A dweeb like you wouldn't understand." Jean said and just walked away. Paul wasn't looking forward to this at all.
…
A Café
A couple hours after school Jean and Paul met up at a café so they can do some studying. Paul was taking it serious, but Jean was doing a lousy job as a tutor.
"So the reason some animals can regrow lost limbs is through a molecular process where cells repair damage?" Paul asked.
"Uh…yeah." Jean said, but she was busy texting on her phone.
"You said you help me. Do you think you could stop texting Thomas?" Paul asked.
"Good idea. I'll call him." Jean said and dialed up his phone. Paul was not doing so well with science or patience with her. Meanwhile, not that far down the street, was a local pet store. An employee was just working, but he heard glass smash and three masked men came in and two of them held guns at him.
"Don't even think about moving." One of them said and all the man could do was stand there in fear.
"You know how teachers are. They wanted to talk about my grades." Jean said over the phone with Paul being annoyed.
"Stop! Thieves!" Paul looked across the streets and saw the three thieves running.
'Uh oh. Thugs. Good thing I got a good excuse.' Paul thought. "Look, it's obvious we both don't want to do this, but I need the grade. So let's just call it quits. I'll find someone who actually cares." Paul gathered his stuff and took off leaving Jean shocked that he actually blew her off. Paul ran down an alleyway so he could change into his spider outfit.
"Hurry."
"I can't believe we're doing this."
"What a coincidence. Neither can I." Paul said as he came down behind them. He shot out his webs and was able to pull two of them back. "I'm starting to get the hang of this." Paul used his new found strength to jump and swing to get in front of the third one. "Okay. Just hand over the….iguana?" That certainly wasn't what Paul was expecting. The thief was carrying a cage with an iguana in it. "I was expecting cash." The thief pulled out a gun and tried to shoot him, but Paul jumped out of the way. The other two got back up and tried to shoot at him and while they dealt with him, the third made a run for it. "Don't you know you shouldn't play with those?" He webbed the guns and pulled them away.
"Hey!"
"Give those back!" Paul jumped down and kicked the two in the head. He webbed them up on the ground to keep them from going anywhere. Paul was about to go after the third one, but he already escaped.
"Terrific." Paul disappointedly said.
…
The Next Day
School was going again, but Paul had some hero work he needed to get done. He called Peter and told him about what happened the other day.
"It was weird. They didn't take any money. All they took was a pet iguana." Paul said.
"I've dealt with some weirdoes in my day, but nothing like that." Peter said.
"Like I don't have enough to worry about." Paul said. "Not only did a crook getaway, but I'm not doing so well in science. My tutor doesn't even really care if I pass or fail. She's so shallow that she doesn't want to be seen with me. She's probably dating her boyfriend because of something others say."
"Welcome to the life of Spider-Man. Things don't always go your way." Peter said. "You know, science was my best subject back when I was in school and I still hold a scientific brain. I be happy to help you. I'm helping out Dr. Walters. Just come to ESU after school."
"That would help. I'll see you then." Paul said and ended the call. Paul was walking by Jean's locker when she spotted him.
"Pauli!" Jean said and got his attention. "What was that about? You blew me off. No one blows me off."
"Cutting out the middle man." Paul said. "Look, it's obvious you don't want to tutor me and I don't really want to be tutored by you, but I need the grade. Mr. Parker was great at science when he went to school. I'll be meeting him at ESU and get some actual help. At least he isn't shallow." He said and just walked off again.
"I'm not shallow." Jean said, but she took a look in her locker's mirror and thought about it. "Am I?" She was actually starting to feel bad for Paul and how she's been acting.
….
ESU
"I'm glad to see you're doing much better, Paul." Walters said. When school ended, Paul went to ESU to meet up with Peter and he made great timing for a storm was brewing. "I was a little concerned when you got sick out of nowhere the last time you were here."
"Let's hope that doesn't happen again." Paul said.
"Paul's been helping me out. These old bones just can't move like they use to." Peter said.
"Dr. Walters, maybe you can help out as well. I need some help in science and I might need all the help I can get." Paul said.
"Pauli." All of them looked to the entrance and was quite surprised to see Jean came as well.
"Pauli?" Peter said. They weren't expecting her to show up. While Jean was talking to Peter, Paul was apologizing to Dr. Walters.
"I'm sorry about this. I told her where I was going, but I didn't think she would actually come." Paul said.
"It's fine. Go ahead. I have some work I need to do anyway." Walters said and stepped out.
"So you're Mr. Parker." Jean said.
"That's right. You seem like a lovely lady." Peter said.
"When she wants to be." Paul said. "Can I talk to you?" He lured Jean away so they could talk in private. "What's going on, Jean? What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to prove to you that I'm not shallow." Jean said. "I thought about what you said and I'm sorry. If you still need some help in science, I would be happy to help you."
"But you probably still want it to be a secret." Paul said. "I'm guessing you don't want Thomas to know or anything."
"You know how he is. He's all about the athletics and not the academics." Jean said.
"So why are you with someone like him?" Paul asked.
"I guess it's because people say we should be together." Jean said. Paul was just kidding when he thought that.
"Jean, you're smarter than that. Maybe he isn't right for you." Paul said. "You shouldn't have to hide your massive brain. You shouldn't be a shame of what makes you who you are. I think you can really be something amazing if you show the real you." Paul was starting to sound like his father and Jean felt flattered because of it.
"Oh no." Peter said. Both of them looked to see him on a computer.
"What's wrong?" Paul asked as they both walked over.
"I wanted to know what it was Dr. Walters was working on. So I did some research and came across this." Peter said as he showed data to alter DNA
"What is it?" Paul asked.
"These are old notes from my old mentor, Dr. Connors." Peter said. "He studied lizard DNA and how they can regrow lost limbs. He wanted to give that power to humans because he only had one arm."
"That would have been a medical breakthrough." Jean said.
"So what happened?" Paul asked.
"The problem was that the lizard DNA was too unstable and it turned him into a monster." Peter said.
"The Lizard. An old enemy of the original Spider-Man. I've heard about him." Paul said.
"It looks like he's made some changes, but Walters has copied it." Peter said.
"Not copy. Improved." Walters said as he revealed himself. "Dr. Connors was fool. He was on something amazing and he decided to let it go. So when I came across it, I've decided to recreate the formula and made some improvements."
"What kind of improvements?" Paul said.
"The problem was that he was too vague on the DNA." Walters said as he took out an injector that had a green serum in it. "By using the DNA of a specific species of a reptile and of higher intelligence, it helps the human remain in control. I went with the iguana."
"Hold on. You were responsible for the robbery at the pet store." Paul said.
"Yes. I needed actual iguana DNA. Imagine the possibilities I can accomplish." Walters said.
"You didn't do this to help others like it was meant for. You did it for the power." Paul said.
"Yes! And now it's mine!" Walters said as he injected himself with the serum and his body began to transform. It was like something in a horror movie as thunder roared. His body grew scales and claws with a tail. Frills grew out of his head and he grew bigger as his clothes ripped up. "Now I'm Iguana! Now that you've seen this, I can't allow you to leave." He shot out his tongue as it stretched out, but Paul grabbed a chair for it to latch to and he tried to hold it back.
"You two get out of here! I'll hold him off." Paul said.
"But Paulie, we can't leave you." Jean said.
"Just go!" Paul said and Jean thought he was being so brave.
"You heard him." Peter said as he escorted Jean out of the building. Paul let go and the chair slammed against Iguana.
"Brave, but the brave are also the stupid." Iguana said. He jumped up to attack, but Paul rolled under him. Paul grabbed him by the tail to hold him down. "Nice try." He swung his tail and had Paul hit desks and smacked him off and had Paul hit the wall. Iguana left him and went after the others. That gave Paul an opening to change
"Hello, police. We have an emergency at ESU." Jean said as she called for help while she and Peter were trying to escape. They heard a hissing sound and saw Iguana catching them.
"Quick! Inside!" Peter said as they went in a building and tried to hold the door shut, but Iguana tried to pry the door open.
"You know you're not suppose to damage school property." Iguana looked up to see Spider-Man above him.
"Spider-Man I presume." Iguana said. "I'm glad to meet you. I would appreciate it if we could team up. We both have great power at our disposal."
"Not happening. I don't partner with walking leather purses." Paul said. Iguana tried slashing him, but Paul jumped off to the side. Iguana went after him and tried slashing at him. Paul jumped back and tried webbing his feet and his mouth shut, but Iguana snapped it off. Paul jumped on him and tried to keep him in a headlock, but Iguana thrashed around to try and shake him off. Paul jumped off, but when Iguana turned around, Paul gave him a strong uppercut and kicked him in the gut.
"That all you got?" Iguana said as he tried slamming his tail at him, but Paul jumped up. He webbed the ground and slingshot himself right on Iguana's head, but Iguana shook him off. They could have kept the fighting going, but they heard police sirens and it was heading their way. "Another time, Spider-Man. You haven't seen the last of me." Iguana used his new found speed and abilities to make his retreat.
"I better get out of here too. Somehow I know I'm going to get blamed." Paul said and left the place.
…
The Next Day
Paul was at school again and he was looking over the news and he was right. Spider-Man is taking all the blame.
"Unbelievable. These people are blaming me for what happened to Dr. Walters." Paul said. "Now I have a six-foot lizard roaming in the city. Does being Spider-Man mean nothing goes my way?"
"Pauli!" Paul heard Jean call to him as she headed over. "Pauli, what were you thinking? I was worried you might have gotten hurt."
"I had to do something. You were worried?" Paul said.
"I guess that scientist wasn't the only one that changed." Jean said and Paul was starting to think he was wrong about her.
"What's Porter doing here?" They noticed Thomas with Amanda and Ray and were starting to get suspicious.
"Leaving I hope." Jean said as she grabbed Thomas' arm and Paul was starting think he was right all along.
"Yeah. I was just passing by." Paul said and kept walking to meet up with Harris while Jean went the other way.
"Aw, Paul. Fell for the facade of a cheerleader and crashed down." Harris said.
"Forget it. I thought she could change. Obviously I was wrong." Paul said, but he didn't notice Jean looked back and actually had some regret on her face. Even human emotions can have a breakthrough, whether it be scientific or natural.