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Authors' note: I'm sorry I haven't written another chapter sooner. But I've been busy. In addition I got three new fics out so it can't be too bad. Anyway I hope you enjoy this new installment in the retelling of the Lizard's origin set in the Ultimate Spider-Man Universe.







Confrontation





All Spidey could see were the distorted features of the creature staring down on him. As if he was getting ready to pounce on his pray.

"Eep" Was all Spidey said as it continued to barrel down on him. Spidey had only one chance and he had to use it.

Just as the creature was about to strike. Spidey shot a web into its mouth. It was now choking on webbing.

It fell back and was trying dislodged the sticky substance, but the creature was having a very difficult time getting it out.

"Get out of here!" Spidey shouted at the couple. They stood up and ran past Spidey and the creature. They were the only ones, left in the alley.

The creature who in the eyes of Spidey appeared to be a Lizard thrashed violently as it tried to get the webbing out of its mouth. Its limbs flailed as it tried to dislodge the blockage.

One of the limbs that were flailing was its tail. And it swung in the air with large amounts of force. Spidey saw the tail swing right into the side of the building. It made a loud crash as went into the building side. Pieces of debris began to fall.

Seeing how the debris could hit him, Spidey jumped and went onto the roof of the building behind him. He could now get a better view of what he was calling "The Lizard." He watched as it struggled with getting the webbing out. But it seemed that the Lizard was beginning to get it out.

"Guess I got one shot at this. Better make it good." He said to himself. He trained his eyes on the roof of the damaged building. He then shot out a line of webbing and heard the familiar sound of it sticking. Spidey took a deep breath and then jumped off the roof.

He swung through the air and he tried to put all of his weight into his legs. His feet landed on the Lizard's upper torso. Or the neck he wasn't sure.

The force pushed the Lizard through the wall and it was now on the ground inside of an empty store.

Seeing how it was unconscious, Spidey opened up his web shooters and covered the Lizard, head to toe with webbing. With the exception of its large snout, it looked like he was covered in a big silver blanket.

"Hope. That'll hold it." Spidey said to himself. "Better get the cops over here."

He got back up to the roof of the undamaged building and shot a webline back toward his home. He knew there was a payphone near his home. Hopefully the cops would believe what he had to say.

A few minuets later, an NYPD cruiser pulled over to where the dispatcher told them there was some kind of disturbance in the area.

One officer whose name tag read: "Brooks" got out and surveyed the damage to the building on the right.

"Jeez, look at all that. Think it's vandals?" He asked his partner

The other officer turned to face Brooks. "Possibly, if they're using wrecking equipment nowadays."

"Call the supervisor, tell him we're gonna need him and some back-up. Also we're gonna need Crime Scene, also."

"Got it."

Brooks carefully approached the damaged store. He noticed the gaping hole in the side of it, facing the alley.

"The hell happened here?" He asked himself

With his flashlight in hand, he began to look around the store. From what he could tell there wasn't anything some loose building materials. He then shined his light into the hole and found something that was very strange.

What he saw was some kind of pile of what Brooks thought to be loose gray fibers that had been torn to pieces. The thing that intrigued him was the number of gray fibers that had been left. And what were all the strange claw marks that had been gouged into the floor?

But those questions weren't going to be answered by Brooks. They were probably going to be answered by the detectives. Even so, he was still intrigued as to what happened here tonight.



The Next Day



While having one of his occasional work lulls. Peter decided to check the website to see if there was anything on what had happened in Long Island City. It took him a couple of minutes to find the story and when he did all he found was an article about a paragraph long. That was one of many stories that were given small amounts of space in the Bugle. Seeing how it couldn't hurt, Peter read the story anyway.



Police Suspect Vandals in destruction of Long Island City building

At around 8:45 P.M. on Thursday. Police received an anonymous call about a disturbance at a 3245-Morrison Street. The building which housed offices received heavy damage to the side wall and had interior damage as well. Police are investigating and are pursuing leads. It's believed that the building had received at least $45, 000 in damages.



Peter was taken aback. Apparently the Lizard had gotten away. But he didn't feel discouraged about it and he continued on with his work.

"There's more to this than there seems." A voice called out

"That may be true but I can't run a story that makes' people think there's a freak running around our sewers. A couple will think it's a mutant and then hunt it down ala Frankenstein." The very recognizable voice of the city editor, Robbie Robertson shot back.

"I never said the thing was a mutant. A possible freak of nature but not a mutant."

"Some would say what's the difference?"

There was no response from the other voice. Peter than soon heard the sounds of footsteps slapping the carpet. The footsteps were coming towards him.

Curious, he looked out of his cubical and noticed a somewhat tall brunette wearing jeans and a red blouse walking up the walkway between cubicles.

It took him a couple of seconds to recognize who she was. But the name came into Peter's head. Her name was Clare Tools.

Tools had come from the Post. Where they had a bigger desire for the kinds of sensationalistic stories, she was excellent in working on them. Tools had come to the Bugle with the potential of getting her own column. The kind where the writer believed that they had the pulse of the city right at their fingertips.

Seeing how this was an opportunity to get some possible information on the Lizard, Peter got out of his cubical and approached her.

"Ms.Tools"

She stopped suddenly, nearly running into him.

"What do you want?" She asked in a somewhat surly tone.

"I'm Peter Parker. I work on the web site. I heard your working on some kind of monster story?"

"It's not a monster story. This is true stuff and if only Robertson would let me have a chance."

"Why didn't he let you run the story?"

"He thinks I don't have enough credible sources. Thinks just cause I have the words of a few homeless people, who may or may have been hospitalized in the past decade."

Peter nodded. The best thing for him was to play along.

"So how long has this been going on?"

"What, the sightings? For the past couple of weeks." She paused. "You know, why don't you just come to my cubical?"

"All right, although I should get back to checking for viruses."

"Don't worry, tell the flat-top that my computer crashed."

"Flat-top?"

"What you never heard of that?"

"Not til today."

Peter and Clare went over to a cubical that faced the "Daily Bugle" letterhead on the right side of the room.

The cubical had the usual appearance of one that housed a reporter. Papers strewn everywhere, the ever-present cup of coffee, and yellow stick notes where there was an available space.

"Here you are Peter, my office."

Clare went and sat down in front of her desk. She then went through several papers and then found what she was looking for. She pulled the stack of papers and showed them to Peter.

"These are copies of police reports. Each one details a call reporting strange noise or sightings in the city."

Peter nodded, he found this very intriguing. "What was the first call?"

"The first call." She went through the stack and pulled out a report. "It was more than two weeks ago. Near ESU."

"What happened?"

"According to the report. Police received a call from someone stating that there was some disturbing screaming in the area. Dispatch sends a radio car and guess what they find?"

"What?"

"Dead body."

Peter's eyebrows rose in shock.

"You think that's freaky. You should take a look at the condition of the body. But even though you probably grew up on Fredy and Jason flicks. I'm not going to show them."

"That's okay, I understand."

"Good, anyway the body was found in horrible condition. Practically rip to shreds. But the Medical Examiner determines the guy was killed with either some kind of multi-blade instrument or it was some kind of animal."

"Whoa"

"Exactly, anyway over the past couple of weeks, cops have been getting these calls. Sometimes they get five a night. Other times they don't get anything for three days straight. But the last piece that a majority of sightings have been made in two places."

"Which?"

"The area around ESU and a section of Queens called 'Forrest Hills'.

"Any idea why?"

"Not a clue. But I'm hoping one of my sources gives me something in a day or two. Otherwise, Robertson is going move me onto another story."

Peter nodded. However, in his head, he worked out the facts presented to him. There were certain things that made him suspect about Doctor Conners and the Lizard. One, the fact that the first sighting was made on the day he met Conners at ESU. Two, the fact that suddenly he has a new arm that completely looked natural. In fact it might have been real! Which leads to three, if Conners does indeed have a new arm. Did he do something to himself such as using gene therapy he had created to grow limbs in mice? There were too many questions and too few answers. Peter needed to ask Conners some very important questions. But he knew that he wouldn't get the answers being Peter Parker.

"Well I better get back to work, Ms.Tools. Thanks for showing me all this stuff."

"Thanks, Peter. It's nice to see that someone is interested in my work. Come back around here sometime."

"I'll do that." He then went back to his cubical. Where he would plan his next move.





A Few Hours Later



At his home in Forrest Hills, Queens. Curt Conners was working on some paperwork sent to him by Osborn Industries. His wife Martha and his son William were out running some errands.

The house was silent with the exception of the keys clattering on his computer. As he worked, Conners stopped, he thought he heard a noise. He turned to look behind him and found nothing. Just as he went back to work, there was another noise. When he turned around, he found himself face to face with a face clad in a red and black mask with two white spaces that must've been for eyes.

"Excuse me, Dr.Conners. I'd like you to answer some very important questions."





To Be Continued