Some of the events in this story are gonna be a little episodic, if that makes sense. I hope that's okay.
I own nothing from Marvel or Spider-Man
Chapter 4: Natural Selection
~A couple days later~
Freddie's right front paw had completely grown back, and all of his vitals were normal.
"It really worked!" Peter exclaimed.
"Success!" Dr. Connors exclaimed in triumph.
"Well done, Curt!" Martha, Connors' wife, praised her husband for their accomplishment.
"It's still a bit too early for human testing, though," said Connors. "Still, at least we're taking a step in the right direction."
The phone rang, so Connors answered, "Yes?"
His expression immediately changed to grim, "Fine, send them in."
"Is something wrong?" Peter asked.
Connors hung up the phone, "Investors from Oscorp are here."
Peter felt instant dread upon hearing that. Knowing how crooked Oscorp was, despite their success; he knew them coming here wasn't a good thing.
"Peter, why don't you take the rest of the day off?" Martha suggested.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, we've dealt with these vultures before," Connors assured him.
Peter nodded, then left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After stopping a few petty crimes, Peter made it home, and climbed in through his window. He pressed the spider symbol on his chest to make his suit deflate, and slip off his body.
Now, he was just in his boxer shorts.
"Welcome back."
"Whoa!" Peter exclaimed as he turned to see MJ sitting on his bed. "H-how long were you there?"
"Long enough..." she responded, tentatively.
Her eyes were a little bit wide, skimming over her boyfriend's abs.
"So...did you go to F.E.A.S.T today?" asked Peter.
It took MJ a few seconds before she acknowledged his question, "Oh, yeah... It's going pretty well. I really like helping the kids."
"...Are you okay?" Peter asked. "You're acting a little more distant than usual."
"I'm just working through some thoughts...but that's not happening," she gestured to his muscles.
"Oh, sorry," Peter apologized, then started putting some clothes on.
Soon, he was fully dressed and sitting beside her.
"That's better," said MJ.
"So...did anything happen?" asked Peter.
"...I met some people," MJ replied.
"Why don't we talk about it while we work on that jigsaw puzzle?" he suggested.
"Sure," MJ said as they got to work on the puzzle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Connors and Martha had managed to scare off Oscorp's Investors by threatening to go to Stark Industries lawyers. Since they had provided resources, they also helped with legal, and other matters.
Still, what one of the investors said had scared Connors a bit, "Norman Osborn always gets what he wants."
Connors turned on the 3D projection, showing an image of himself, then checked what the right dosage should be. After about 8 tries, he got it right.
Feeling desperate, he got the syringe, put the right dosage of the formula in it, and injected it into his right shoulder.
He grunted at the stinging sensation, then felt something changing within him!
He started sweating hard and held his shoulder in pain! Finally, he couldn't take the feeling anymore and passed out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back with Peter & MJ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"No, that piece goes here," MJ corrected her boyfriend's error on the puzzle.
"How can you tell?" asked Peter. "They all look the same."
"Your senses are dialed up to 11 and you can't tell the differences between puzzle pieces?"
"These pieces are small!" Peter exclaimed defensively.
"It IS 100 pieces," MJ said.
Peter's phone rang, and the caller ID said "Aaron".
"Hey, what's up?"
"GET TO CONNORS' LAB, RIGHT NOW!" Aaron exclaimed from the phone.
"Uh, ow!" Peter said. "Wait, what is going on at-"
"There's no time to explain!" Aaron shouted. "Just get moving! And suit up!"
Peter dropped the phone and ran into his room!
"What was he shouting about?" MJ questioned.
"He said to go to Dr. Connors' lab!" Peter quickly undressed and put his costume on.
"He sounded more than a little panicked," MJ commented. "Should we be worried?"
"I'm thinking yes," Peter said as he pulled his mask over his face, then jumped out the window and swung away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martha came back to the lab with Chinese food, "So sorry I'm late, honey. The line was-"
She saw her husband on the floor and ran over to him, "Curt! Curtis, wake up!"
Curt groaned a bit, then opened his eyes, "Martha?"
"What are you doing on the floor?"
"I...I must have passed out from-" He wiped some sweat from his forehead, then noticed...he did it with his right hand! It was back!
"Curt...your...your hand...!" Martha whispered in disbelief, tears forming in her eyes.
"My God! It worked!" He hugged Martha tightly, happy that he could give her a full hug again!
"But I thought you were waiting to test it on humans," she said.
"I couldn't wait, but I ran the tests to get the right dosage," Curt responded. "It's a miracle!"
"It really is," Martha joined her hand with her husband's new one.
Curt then suddenly got a headache, "Ugh..."
"Are you okay?" Martha asked with concern.
Curt grunted in pain and backed away, then the skin on his right arm started to grow scales!
"Oh no...I've made a huge mistake...!"
"Curt...!" Martha gasped in horror as she backed away while Curt began to writhe in pain.
The rest of his skin grew scales, and turned dark green! His muscles bulked up and he grew two times in size! His nails became claws, his eyes turned yellow and reptilian! His hair disappeared and his mouth grew into a snout, with razor sharp teeth! The bottom half of his pants tore open and his shoes and socks were destroyed as his feet became reptilian, with four toes equipped with claws as well! Finally, a long tail burst out from the seat of his pants!
"Oh my God...!" Martha gasped in horror.
"Get...away...!" The newly transformed Dr. Connors managed to say, as his voice changed, then the animal roared like a crocodile!
Martha screamed before she turned and ran for her life.
"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" she cried.
Spider-Man swung in, landing in front of Connors/The Lizard, "Dr. Connors?!"
The Lizard pounced at him, which Spidey managed to dodge, but he wasn't quite prepared for a tail whip! It knocked him into one of the desks, knocking it over!
The Lizard sniffed the air and burst out the window!
"No! Wait!" Spidey cried as the Lizard made his escape, forcing the hero to chase after him.
Martha took a few minutes to get over her shock, then decided to get to work on a cure.
She knew her husband's work well enough to run her own formulas.
She just hoped that Spidey would be able to subdue him before he did any real harm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The chase led to the subway, and the Lizard was heading right for the people!
Spidey swung over and kicked him away, "Everybody run!"
All the civilians started to evacuate as Spidey tried to web up the Lizard!
"Doc, you've gotta stop! This isn't you!"
But the Lizard only growled and tried to hit Spidey with his tail! He flipped around, then grabbed the giant reptile by his lab-coat, swung him up to a wall and webbed him there!
"Doc, we've gotta get you back to the lab," he tried to reason with him again. "Dr. Connors are you in there?"
The Lizard broke through the webbing and roared in his face!
"Okay, maybe not!" Spidey exclaimed as he clamped the Lizard's jaws shut. "Ugh, yikes! Can you say 'halitosis'?!"
Spidey jumped away and stuck to the ceiling, "Sorry, I don't speak reptilian."
Lizard broke out of the webs and jumped at the wall-crawler, who swung away, only for the Lizard to pounce him onto the roof of a subway train! Spidey got him off and slingshot away, then got ready for another one.
"Okay doc, this gonna hurt me more than it hurts you!"
As he swung toward the Lizard, he ended up getting whipped by his tail, sending him down to one of the iron rafters!
"UGH! Agh...yeah, definitely hurts me more than you," he groaned, but before he could react fast enough, the Lizard jumped down and slammed his tail onto his hand, causing Spidey to fall onto the tracks!
He rolled a bit, but managed to avoid the third rail. He checked his wrist, discovering it was sprained, so he bandaged it with his webs.
He looked up and saw Lizard crawling along the ceiling.
"Hey, wall-crawling's my schtick! You start spinning a web, and I'll sue!"
As he turned around, though, he just barely managed to jump up to the ceiling to avoid an incoming subway train!
Only for Lizard to swoop over and kick him into one of the pillars!
The mutated doctor jumped onto the train as it began to move again, and Spidey shot a web-line to the back of it.
Soon, the two started brawling on top of the train with Spidey trying to pin the Lizard down, but he was once again tail-whipped away, but this time, Spidey managed to cling to the window and was spotted by the subway passengers.
"Whoa, cool!" said a little boy. "It's Spider-Man!"
"Wow!" exclaimed his sister.
"Hey, kids!" Spidey greeted. "Can't talk! Fighting a bad guy!"
He then climbed back up, only to barely dodge the Lizard's tail!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martha just finished the cure, but now the problem was how to get it to Spider-Man...
"Mrs. Connors?" Aaron's voice came from a small flying drone that dropped its camouflage. Maria screamed in surprised. "It's okay, I work with Spider-Man. My name is Neo, and this drone is mine."
"W...what do you want?" asked Martha, nervously.
"I know where they are, so I'll make sure your husband gets the cure," Aaron told her, and the drone opened a small compartment. "And I promise, the public won't know that Curt was that monster."
Martha seemed uncertain, but then she sighed before she placed the antidote inside the drone.
"Thank you," Aaron's voice said.
"Please, save him," Martha begged.
"We will, I promise," The drone then flew away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spidey managed to drag the Lizard away from the subway to a sewer tunnel, which gave him more room to maneuver without worrying about civilians.
Lizard tried to hit him with his tail again, but he grabbed it.
"Don't-" Lizard used his tail to smash Spidey into the wall, trying to make him let go! "-make me-" Smash to the floor! "-have to-" Smash to the wall again! "-hurt you!"
Finally, Lizard got him off by throwing him down the tunnel! Spidey rolled painfully down the tunnel before coming to stop at a four-way area to other tunnels.
"Hey Pedro, you copy?" Aaron's voice spoke from the communication in his suit.
"Aaron, is that you?" Spidey asked as he got up.
"No, it's Pinocchio," Aaron joked. "Yeah, it's me! Listen, Mrs. Connors just created an antidote for Connors' mutation and one of my drones has it. It should be where you are shortly. Keep him distracted while I administer it."
"How are you gonna pierce his tougher skin?" Spidey wondered.
"Don't worry, I've got that covered."
The invisible drone flew in and sprayed the Lizard with some kind of super-coolant. The monster roared in anger and swung its tail at the air, but Spidey caught it with a web-line.
He then maneuvered around him, covering him in webbing and wrapping his tail around his legs. Lizard started to break free, but it's movements were slowing down, thanks to the super-coolant. Finally, the invisible drone shot an injector needle filled with blue liquid into the creature's neck, and the needle was strong enough to pierce the Lizard's skin. It let out a painful roar and started thrashing about, but Peter could already see the cure was working: the scales appeared to turn back to human skin and the tail and right arm were both going away. Within a minute, it was not the Lizard lying on the ground, but Dr. Curtis Connors.
"Ugh..." he groaned, lying motionless on the ground.
Spidey slowly approached him, "Dr. Connors, are you with us?"
Curt blinked several times, "S-Spider-Man? What happened?"
"That's a long story..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter waited in the hallway outside of the Doc's room. When they got to the surface, he had called in a few favors from his Avengers contacts, eventually getting a room in the newly rebuilt Avengers Facility for Connors to be checked on by none other than Dr. Helen Cho.
From everything he had been told about her; if anyone could make sure none of the Lizard DNA was left in the man's system, she could. Martha was in there too, waiting by the Doc's side like the loyal wife she was.
Dr. Cho came out of the room. As Peter stood to face her, he saw she was smiling, which filled him with hope, "Is he going to be alright, doctor?"
"Yes; the cure you gave him completely removed any trace of reptilian DNA from his system," Dr. Cho said with a beaming smile. "I must say, what his wife was able to pull off in making that cure was quite impressive; most people in the medical field would have been at a loss. Also, they'd like to see you."
"Okay, thanks," Peter said, turning to open the door into the room.
There was Curt, lying on a hospital bed with Maria at his side.
"So, apparently my intern swings around New York in red and black tights saving people?" Connors joked.
Peter let out a little laugh, "Something like that."
Curt's expression became more serious as he continued, "Peter, I want to say thank you, but...it doesn't feel like enough. Really, I feel like there is something else that I should say: I'm sorry."
"It's okay Doctor," Peter tried to say reassuringly.
"No, it's not okay," Connors persisted from the hospital style bed he was in. "I was so determined to restore what I had lost that I almost lost what I had in the first place. I ignored the warning signs and the chances of what ended up happening anyway...I should have been smarter. I think you should find a new job, Peter."
"That's funny, because I was just going to say that I think we'll have some work to do on the lab," Peter said with a smile.
"Peter..."
"Doc, I checked, and there was never a call made to the cops involving the incident at the lab. I called Nick Fury and he told me he would take care of the story behind what happened. It'll take some time, but we can rebuild it, together."
"Peter why would you want to-"
"We all make mistakes, doctor. Trust me, in the superhero business, I've made some big ones," Peter said, practically cringing about the incidents he mentioned. "Everyone deserves a second chance."
"I don't know, I think that..."
Martha cut her husband off this time, "You sure know how to talk your way out of a good thing, don't you?" Curt smiled at his wife and looked down as if to finally acknowledge defeat. "Don't worry, Peter. I'll make sure my husband is ready to go back in no time."
"Thank you ma'am."
"No Peter, thank you," Martha responded with a smile. "You made our family whole again."
Peter smiled, turned and walked out the door to leave the couple to each other.
"...He certainly is an amazing boy," said Martha.
"That he is," Curt agreed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as Peter got home, MJ hugged him tightly.
"Well, hello to you, too," Peter said as he gently pulled away.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he assured.
"I saw the whole thing," she added. "I mean-the only other time I saw you in action was the Washington Monument. But seeing you get hit all those times was-"
"Wait, you saw? How?"
"Thanks to me," Aaron's voice called out again, and another one of his drones floated over to them, displaying a digital projection of Peter's fight with the Lizard, like a camera at a sports game.
"You're not hurt, are you?" asked MJ. "Because I saw you take a really nasty fall."
"Just a little, but I heal fast," he assured her.
MJ hugged him again, "I hope so. You're very important to me and I don't wanna lose you."
"...I know," Peter replied as he hugged her back. "You're important to me, too."
May entered the apartment with takeout food, then saw her nephew and MJ hugging.
"Oh, Peter!" she put her bags down and joined in the hug. "Thank God you're alright!"
"Oof! May!" Peter exclaimed. "Of course I'm all right!"
"You know I'm always going to worry," she reminded him.
Both women released him and everyone got the food.
MJ suggested that she and Peter watch "The Italian Job" movie from 2003.
Soon, they were sitting on the couch together.
"This is probably the only Jason Statham movie that isn't super violent," Peter stated.
"Yeah, it's pretty good," replied MJ. "But why's it called the Italian Job when the whole thing doesn't take place in Venice?"
Peter shrugged, "Who knows?"
After the movie was over, MJ finally made an important decision...
"Remember I told you that I don't have much luck with getting close to people? Well...I think it's because of my parents..."
"Really?" Peter asked. "Why do you think that?"
"A few years after my brother, Caleb was born, my Dad cheated on my Mom," MJ explained. "We don't really see much of him, but she became bitter. She works as a doctor, but she always made time for us. Then, after what my Dad did, she buried herself more into her work. She always says she's trying hard to provide for us, but I know it's more than that. She was there less and less for our birthdays and other important stuff, so it was just me and Caleb, but we kept each other happy, mostly. I do believe she's trying, but...I don't think she wants to get hurt again."
Peter was quiet...but he rubbed his hand along her back, telling her that he was still listening.
"I think that's why I never had much luck getting close to people; I learned it from her."
"MJ, I'm sorry," Peter told her, his voice filled with sympathy. He knew she hated for people to feel sorry for her, but he couldn't help how it came out.
"Don't be," she said. "It's not your fault. I just...I could never judge her for how she is handling this. I know she loved dad; the few memories I have of both of them were all positive ones. They were happy. I hope one day I can have more good memories with her."
"You will," Peter reassured her.
"I envy that about you," she said, looking at him with a smile while shaking her head. "You are always so positive. You lost both your parents, then your uncle, then Tony, yet here you are, going out there and pouring so much of yourself out into the world. Caleb's a lot like you. I hope one day I can find it in myself to do the same."
By now she was looking down, as if afraid to face him.
"You already are," Peter took her hand.
"How?" she asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
"Going to volunteer to help those less fortunate; the relationships that you have already built in such a short time. You can relate to people in different ways than I can. Also, I never mentioned that Ned told me that it was your idea to lead you guys away from the rest of the class when Mysterio was attacking London. Your first thought was to protect others by luring the danger away yourself. That makes you a hero in my book."
MJ smiled at him, gratefully, before giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Peter then kissed her on the lips, which she gladly returned. She even cupped his face and kissed him deeper than before.
There were no words spoken...but none were needed.
Hopefully you guys recognized the stuff from "The Spectacular Spider-Man" cartoon!
Read and review, please!