Disclaimer: So far, so good kiddies! As I've been reiterating, Spider-Man, the villains and supporting cast are all the property of Marvel Comics.


Chapter IV
Reptile Wrangling

Spider-Man lowered himself down the shaft until he reached the bottom of the sewers, literally in the very thick of things. For a few tense moments, the web-head recalled the settings of all of his battles with the previous villains. He battled the Green Goblin in a derelict building, Doc Ock atop a run away train and Venom and Sandman at a construction site. He never considered the possibility of facing a new foe in the cesspool of the New York City sewer line; until now. Even more disturbing was the fact that the Lizard was once a man that he, as Peter Parker, respected in Dr. Connors. Peter himself felt partially at fault, after all, he was Connors' assistant when the formally good doctor tinkered around with the serum.

He thought, Man, my laundry bill's going to be insane. Spider-Man started scanning the immediate area for any sign of the man turned monster. "Dr. Connors, where are you," He kept scanning until he witnessed a large, reptilian shadow heading down a tunnel. "Doc, wait a second."

Spider-Man fired a web line and gave chase down the same tunnel. Even with his tremendous speed, the web head found difficult to keep up with his quarry. Then again, Peter was in no hurry to turn Connor into a suitcase; he was more focused on catching him so a cure can be found. The bad news was that only Dr. Connors could find a cure, unless Peter did some serious catching up on his reading. Spider-Man began to gather some momentum until the Lizard was in view but the wall crawler maintained a reasonable distance. Meanwhile, the Lizard hopped and vaulted from surface to surface until he made a sharp left turn into a water junction. Spider-Man followed and landed onto a wide ledge; there was no trace of the Lizard.

"Dr. Connors, I know you're in here; somewhere," Spider-Man called out, causing a faint echo. He spun around quickly, ready to move the moment he sensed anything unusual.

Spider-Man continued scanning the area, so far not sensing any danger whatsoever. He turned sharply after hearing a very faint sound; an almost inhuman sound. Behind the wall crawler, the water started rippling slowly toward the ledge. For a brief moment, a shredded lab coat and a scaly back jutted out through the surface and vanished just as quickly. Spider-Man turned and saw nothing. At the point, Peter started wondering who was hunting whom. Again from behind him, the water rippled until it reached the ledge. A dripping, scaly hand latched onto the surface as Spider-Man quickly turned and spotted the Lizard rising up from the depths. For some reason, the creature didn't try to attack Spider-Man this time, and Spider-Man didn't sense any danger.

The Lizard hissed to Spider-Man, "Why are you following me?"

"Dr. Connors, I'm not hear to hurt you," said Spider-Man. "I just want to help. Maybe we can find a cure."

"How do you know who I am; who I used to be?" the Lizard asked, sinking to all fours in a defensive position. Spider-Man took very slow, subtle steps toward him.

"One of your students' spoke very of highly, doctor," said Spider-Man, talking about himself as Peter. "Peter Parker."

"Parker," the Lizard whispered. "I know him well; one of my best students. Alright; I will surrender."

That was easy! Peter thought as he approached the Lizard. His spider-sense suddenly went off and slow motion, he saw the burning red eyes of the Lizard flaring. The Lizard immediately lunged at Spider-Man but he quickly leaped away onto a wall. I stand corrected.

"You would foolishly believe I'd want to return to being a fleshy weakling," snarled the Lizard. "I have evolved into something more, and so to will this whole city."

"I guess there's no point in convincing you otherwise." said Spider-Man.

The Lizard leapt high into the air, sailing directly toward Spider-Man before he swung out of the way. Clearly, this wasn't the right time to start cracking jokes for the wall crawler, especially right now. Spider-Man bounded back onto the ledge and the Lizard followed, lunging once again at his foe. Spider-Man leaped clean but the Lizard seemed to anticipate his movement and swiped at him with his tail. Still, Spider-Man outmaneuvered the swipe, fired a quick web line onto his foe's feet and tripped him. The Lizard face-planted into the concrete, after which Spider-Man clasped onto him from behind in the hopes of holding him down.

"Give it up, Dr. Connors! It doesn't have to be like this." Spider-Man held of the Lizard's arm behind his scaly back.

"I will not surrender to likes of you, monkey spawn." The Lizard quickly rose up, and then rapidly backed into the far wall, almost crushing Spider-Man between it and him. Then, he grasped his arms and slammed him hard into the floor before opening his maw.

Spider-Man grasped the snout and jaw with his hands, desperately preventing a lethal blow. Still, the Lizard whipped his massive head around in a frenzy and finally sent the web slinger flying across the room. Spider-Man fired a web line back toward and past the rabid beast, distracting him momentarily. The Lizard turned right into a swift kick to the snout and that sent him into the filthy water. He quickly resurfaced to face Spider-Man, but then turned and bounded away down another tunnel. Spider-Man fired a web line and followed him down the same path. The Lizard proved to be one quick S.O.B and Spider-Man eventually lost sight of him. Thankfully, his spider-sense directed him into a new partially submerged room; three inactive conveyor belts situated one by one and each with a steel gear at the end. Spider-Man scanned the room for any sign of the Lizard.

Where are you? I know you're in here.

Spider-Man kept up his desperate search for the Lizard, not noticing the water surface bubbling behind him; and slowly creeping toward him. Spider-Man's spider sense started blaring again; in fact, it went way off the scale. Time seemed to slow down and Spider-Man got a far superior view of his surroundings, up until his sight settled on the Lizard pouncing on him. Spider-Man ducked in the nick of time, snagging the Lizard with a web line and pulling him in. The Lizard got loose and started clawing wildly at Spider-Man, who was doing his best to avoid the blow. He managed to get in a few blows and even a swift kick to the jaw. Still, the Lizard kept swiping and Spider-Man kept dodging until he was met by that leathery tail. The blow sent him careening into the water and the Lizard followed. Spider-Man resurfaced, fired a quick line and pulled himself out of the water, just miniscule seconds before the Lizard.

Spider-Man stuck to the ceiling, looking down at his foe, who hissed to him, "You are a fool, Spider-Man. You should be thankful that in death, you will be spared subjugation be the true rulers of the planet."

"That would be the mice, right," Spider-Man joked. "I'm pretty sure it's the mice."

"This is not a game." screamed Lizard.

The Lizard took a monster leap toward Spider-Man but the latter leaped off the ceiling back to one of the conveyor belts. He once again snagged the airborne beast with a web line and yanked him straight down. The Lizard landed with a thud on the belt, and in the chaos, his tail slammed into a nearby console that activated the conveyor belt. Spider-Man almost lost his balance on the belt, and that moment of distraction allowed the Lizard to pounce on him. Again, the Lizard tried to make a meal out of his prey, while Spider-Man blocked the literal Jaws of Life lest he became a snack. The wall crawler noticed that he and the Lizard were inching closer toward the giant gear.

"That's not good; in fact that's way bad!"

In desperation, Spider-Man placed his feet on the Lizards' chest and tried to shift his body. The Lizard closed in and snapped his jaw shut, narrowly missing his prey's head. Spider-Man used that moment to his advantage, shifting his body and flipping the Lizard up and over him. The Lizard slammed into the rolling gear, the impact demolishing it and throwing the Lizard into the water. Spider-Man rose to his feet and saw no sign of the Lizard. For a moment, Peter feared he might've killed the former Dr. Connors. But then the Lizard slowly climbed out the water and onto a ledge with a doorway leading to another room.

"Don't think that I'm beaten yet, mammal," said Lizard. As soon as he retreated into the new room, Spider-Man followed close behind. The web slinger entered a spillway, quickly finding the Lizard scaling the wall towards the ceiling. Once there, the Lizard turned his reptilian head back toward Spider-Man. "This is not over, flesh bag."

"Okay, now that really stings." Spider-Man said.

The Lizard started pulling on a massive cover leading into a spillway, and that spillway in turn led to the streets above. Spider-Man had to do something right now to stop the Lizard from reaching the surface. He swung and climbed up the spillway, finally reaching a catwalk with two pressure valves on either side. Spider-Man latched two web lines to the valves and began to pull with everything he had in his body. The Lizard was just about to open the cover as Spider-Man finally succeeded in his attempt. Just as the Lizard opened the cover to its full extent, a massive waterfall slammed right onto him. The frantic beast fell several feet down the spillway, after which Spider-Man followed. The web slinger descended to the bottom but saw no trace of the Lizard but as the cascade of water receded, he noticed that a grating was damaged. Spider-Man investigated the damage to the grate; it became clear that the Lizard had disappeared. For now at least.

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The fashion show had long since ended and most of the guests had gone on home for the evening. Only a skeleton crew remained to clean up the setup, the runway and whatever else needed to be cleaned. Standing outside the ballroom, Mary Jane waited patiently for a cab, although she was slightly apprehensive about that. Why shouldn't she be? The last time she took a cab, she ended up suspended eighty stories in the air, courtesy of Eddie Brock. Just the thought of that lunatic sent a chill down Mary Jane's spine. The arrival of a black limousine snapped Mary Jane out of her trance, and then Roderick Kingsley came into view.

"That was very well done up there, Ms. Watson," he said. "You impressed quite an assortment of onlookers tonight."

"Oh, uh thank you, Mr. Kingsley," said a somewhat distracted Mary Jane. "I have to admit that I was a little nervous went I went out on that runway."

"Well, that's to be expected; but it becomes much easier over time," said Kingsley just as his chauffer opened passenger door. "By the way; where's your photographer friend?"

Mary Jane had to think quickly. "Peter? He had some business down at the Bugle."

"That seems typical of a man that puts his work before his friends." Kingsley said.

"With all due respect, Mr. Kingsley," Mary Jane said in defense of Peter. "Not everyone has all the time in the world; Peter is devoted to his work but he still makes time to spend with his loved one."

That's a very interesting argument, Ms. Watson and I do apologize," Kingsley said. "Anyway, I should be on my way as well; I have much of my own work that needs completion. I'll see you next week for the photo shoot."

Mary Jane nodded in the affirmative toward Kingsley, just a few moments before he entered his car and rode off. Soon after, a bright yellow cab pulled up in front of Mary Jane, and with some reluctance, she entered the vehicle. Mary Jane was pretty ecstatic about the upcoming photo shoot, but at the same time, she was somewhat wary of Roderick Kingsley. Sure, he seemed like a well-mannered, intelligent gentleman, but Mary Jane's intuition told her that something was amiss with the man. Mary Jane mentally slapped herself for thinking so ill about something, but then again, she had more than enough reason to do so.

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Mary Jane could never fathom just how right she was, for Roderick Kingsley the fashion designer was just a front for the real man. In reality, Roderick Kingsley was a ruthless criminal whose fortune was the result of many ill-gotten gains. Everyone that associated themselves with Kingsley was most likely left to rot in prison, or maybe worse. Hell, Kingsley would probably stab his own mother in the back to get what he wanted. Kingsley sat comfortably in the back seat of his car, where he suddenly received a call on his phone.

"This is Kingsley, what did you find," there was a pause. "Well keep searching for some kind of information; I want to know everything about the previous owner of the house. That includes his dirty little secrets."

Kingsley ended the call right there, after which he pulled a black case up from the floor. He opened the case to view the contents within; sketches and blueprints of "certain things." Kingsley than pulled out what appeared to be a photograph of the "previous owner." Peter Parker would have recognized the man in the photo instantly, but Kingsley knew him just as well.

Kingsley whispered, "What do you have to hide, old man?"

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Peter threw himself onto his rickety bed in his equally rickety apartment. Well, it wasn't as bad as in the past. Mr. Dichovich actually came through to fixing the door and shower head, although he still demanded the rent every so often. Peter had practically tossed his now rancid costume into the basket; thank God he had a spare costume. Peter sat up on his bed, hands on his knees and deep in thought. He came to reach over the dresser drawer and picked a picture of himself, Aunt May and of course, the late Uncle Ben.

Why does everyone I know and love, have to suffer because of me; Uncle Ben, Mary Jane, Harry, Mr. Osborn and now Dr. Connors?

Peter placed the picture back on its resting place before settling himself into bed. He laid there with his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling for what seemed like a life time. His thought once again drifted toward all of the villains he'd fought and beaten. Now he's faced with an enemy that was also his mentor and friend in Dr. Connors. Peter felt his eyelids becoming heavy and before long, he was dead to the world. Hopefully, the next day would bring some much needed promise.

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Meanwhile back at the school, Ned Leeds managed to sneak back in despite Spider-Man's previous warnings. This kid was determined to find something of value, and that something was literally at his feet. Ned looked down, spotting a video camera on the floor and picked it up. Ned thought about how the police could've missed something so important. Figuring this could be the valuable asset he might need; Ned took the tape out of the camera and soon enough, left the scene.

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Down in the sewers, a tiny rat floated up stream on a chunk of debris. Then without warning, the rat vanished beneath the surface, after which a scaly back jutted in and out of the water.


Authors' note: Finally I got another friggin' chapter done. This writer's block is just killing me. Don't forget to read and review. Peace out!