Author's Note: I know I've been gone for a while, updating other things and working on my actual book. But I am back! I still own nothing!
36. Hunted, Again
Piper crumpled to the floor as she heard the vault door tear. She almost managed to pull herself to her feet before a large green tail wrapped around her throat and dragged her into the air. She choked, adrenaline kicking into high gear as both her hands shot to the large scaly appendage currently restricting her windpipe. She heard a laugh from across the room. Doc Oc was apparently still there, across the room. She heard him gathering things. The Lizard snarled at her and she swore, she didn't want to hurt Dr. Connors. But she also wasn't keen on dying so she bunched up her legs, planted them firmly on the Lizards chest and pushed off hard. This had the desired effect, forcing the tail out to its outer limits and making him drop her in surprise. Doc Oc screamed as the lizard raced in his direction, Piper vaguely heard the sound of shattering glass as she grabbed the Lizard by the tail and yanked hard.
"I know you're still in there Doc Connors. We're gonna get you out." Oc snorted as he raced out of the room.
"Good luck without my help, obnoxious arachnid." Piper rolled her eyes under her mask.
"Wasn't talking about you jackass!" She flipped up to the ceiling above the tunnel she'd come in through.
"Hey buddy, so you seem to be mostly Lizard at this point so how about we play a game. Not a game I like but I know you will. You wanna hunt?" The Lizard perked up at this.
"Hunt, good." Piper nodded and took off down the tunnel the Lizard hot on her heels.
"That's what I thought you'd say!" She made sure he never lost sight of her as she dodged up out of a manhole and paused on the street. She tapped her communicator.
"How we doing on that antidote Tiger?" She didn't have time to actually watch her watch but she could hear White Tiger speaking.
"Not so well, apparently Doc Oc's version of the formula was destroyed along with Connor's laptop at the warehouse." Piper swore as she dove forwards catching onto a street lamp. She glanced behind her and saw the Lizard gripping onto a brick wall with his claws.
"Hey wall crawling is my thing! You start slinging a web and I'll sue!" She dove from streetlight to streetlight as her mind raced and the Lizard behind her roared.
"How clear is the road in front of Stark Tower?" Tony must be standing right next to Ava, for she could hear him clear as a bell.
"Roadblocked a few blocks out on all sides. Don't want anyone bothering with the broken glass and the large Lizard you better be luring here." Piper grinned as she dove to the street as her spidey sense tingled and Doc Connors lunged at her, she rolled on impact and came up running ducking through an alley back towards Stark Tower.
"You know me too well. I need the team on street level. I got a look at Doc Oc's formula. I should be able to remember it enough to find the differences." She got a grunt of agreement before Ava clicked off her com. Piper leapt over the police barricade, the Lizard hot on her heels. She made it to the front of Stark Tower and pulled to a halt turning to face her pursuer. He was crouched down, there was almost a smile on his face.
"This was you plan?" Piper shook her head as the doors to her left burst open the Team lunging past her, joined surprisingly by Captain America and Black Widow, who was armed with stun guns instead of her usual pistols.
"This was me plan! Play nice, I'll be right back!" She shot a web catapulting her up the building. She flipped into the room through the already broken window and didn't bother removing her mask, there were several news helicopters circling the fight outside that could no doubt point their cameras into the broken window of Stark Tower at any moment.
"Formula please!" She said as she flipped up to the ceiling above Bruce. Glen obliged pulling up the original Lizard formula.
Natasha was pissed. She and Steve were both light sleepers and had awoken to the sounds of the elevator zipping between floors. She'd decided not to ask JARVIS what was going on and instead headed out of her level via the vents. When she'd moved into the tower Tony had offered to make the vents more accessible on her floor so she could get around easily the way she liked, she'd quickly turned him down. She preferred to be one of the only people who knew where the vents were. She followed the sound of the elevator down to the bio chem floor where she could hear Tony, Bruce, Ava and one of Dr. Connors inters speaking about a formula. She dropped down and landed easily next to Bruce who didn't even flinch. She let a small smile grace her lips as Ava, in her White Tiger costume, jumped slightly. Tony glared at her and the blonde boy next to Bruce let out a loud shout of surprise. She didn't bother to look at the teenager instead turning to Ava who looked a bit out of place.
"Catch me up." Ava had just barely finished catching Natasha up when the elevator pinged and Steve stepped off the elevator. He was in his Captain America uniform.
"Had JARVIS turn on the news for me, saw a big green guy burst out of the Tower. Figured you might need help." He ran a hand through his hair as Tony nodded, still going over the formula in front of him. Ava nodded and caught Steve up on the situation. She managed to finish telling him everything she knew and catch her breath as the rest of the team arrived. Her watch pinged.
Now they were all trying to keep the Lizard under control. The stun gun wasn't doing much, his hide seemed to thick to penetrate. Steve and Nova were having better luck with their shield and energy blasts respectively. But none of them actually wanted to directly attack the Dr. So all they were working on was containment. But the Lizard was growing more and more frustrated. Soon they would have to attack to defend themselves. She was not looking forward to that.
Somewhere below the city an entity stirred, feeling stagnant smelly air waft over it for the first time in a while. It had no true head to speak of but several feelers spread out around it. Broken glass, the cage that had held it shattered. It felt its other pieces calling out to it and wiggled over to a box. It was easy enough to slide in through the key hole. It was even easier to smash the containers within from the outside.
The entity rejoiced at finally being whole. Now all it needed was a host. It knew it was short on time as it slithered out of the room and up into the streets. Something was happening down the road, things happening meant people, people meant a new host. It reached the crowd of people, the something must be quite interesting but it could only catch glimpses of the thing happening behind a barricade of road blocks and a sea of legs. A voice nearby it caught its attention.
"Aw man, can't get a good view of anything from here." The entity crept forwards and placed itself in the path of the retreating figure. He was tall, well muscled. Not an enhanced like his Spider, but clearly athletic. He radiated hurt, it could smell the sour emotion on the boy. It would have smiled to itself but it had no mouth in this form. Instead it carefully wrapped around the boys shoe as he walked away from the crowd trying to find a spot where he could get a better view.
Flash frowned down at his black sneakers. He could have sworn he stepped in something but there was nothing there, he frowned as he ran to one of the slightly less crowded police barricades to watch the fight.