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Summary: This is the final chapter in the retelling of The Lizard's origins set in the Ultimate Spider-Man universe. So I hope you enjoy this final installment of "Splicing".







Revelation





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



Conners sat there with his mouth agape. He couldn't utter a single word as a red and blue figure hung right in front of his face.

He tried to make a move for the phone which was on his right.

"Can't let you do that, doc" Spidey said to him in a calm, somewhat sarcastic voice. He shot out a small amount of webbing and it stuck Conners' right hand to the desk. It was now covered in gray webbing.

Conners tried to remove his hand from the webbing but couldn't.

"Sorry doc, only your little buddy could break through that stuff. By the way is he coming anytime soon?"

Conners looked up at Spider-man and back to his webbed hand.

"Don't try anything funny." Spidey told him. "Or I'll web your hands and feet and you'll be stuck there. Not to worry the stuff melts in an about an hour."

Seeing how any escape would be futile. Conners relaxed himself in his chair and looked Spidey right in the eyes. Assuming the white coverings were his eyes.

"What do you want to know?" Conners asked in a tired voice

"Everything, but focus on your green scaley friend. I can't be here all day."

Conners went into deep thought and battled with what he had to say. For him it seemed like hours passed by when it had only been a minute.

"Okay, I'll tell you everything."

Spidey still hung from the ceiling, it was actually comfortable for him to do so.

"It started several weeks ago, when we had made that discovery about the serum that could replace limbs in mice. I'm sure you heard about that?"

Spidey nodded.

"Well, the serum consisted of various reptilian genes that were directly linked to limb regeneration. Such as when you cut off the tail of a gecko. The tail will eventually grow back.

Anyway, we found that the genes weren't enough to regenerate limbs in other species. You needed a stabilizing to prevent the limbs from degenerating in only a matter of minutes. That's when a doctor came from Osborne and gave us a compound he believed that would aid our efforts."

"Oz" Spidey muttered to himself.

"Seeing how we had nothing to lose. I combined the reptilian genes with this compound. Sure enough within days we had a working serum. One that had the possibility of bringing back lost arms and legs. Or even people who were never born with them."

"How this lead to your scaley buddy?"

"I'm getting to that." Conners said to him wearily. "It seemed we had what we wanted, the answer that had been elusive to us all this time. I had a personal stake in this." Conners went over with his free hand a pulled a picture frame close to him. It was of him, wearing battle fatigues in the desert. He was smiling and so were the rest of his command.

"I lost my arm in the Gulf. Doctors said I was very close to losing a lot more. So from then on until about a few weeks ago. There was nothing here except a hanging stump. So you see why I was so interested in limb regeneration."

Spidey one again nodded. While the kid inside of the suit: Peter Parker was completely fascinated by the man's story. This was more than grants and headlines.

"Then about few weeks ago, I had been working late at night in the lab. After all the tests we had conducted it seemed that everything was right. We had FDA approval in the bag. But I still wanted to see if the serum could work on me. I realized that there was risk. But the worse that had happened were some temporary spasms. So I had prepared my left arm and then, then..."

Conners was struggling with the words.

"You injected yourself." Spidey added.

"Yes, I first experienced some pain and then I found I had a new left arm. Looking like it had been there all this time."

"What happened after that?"

"Well, it took me some time but I finally told my wife Martha. She was worried about what I had done but I reassured her that everything was safe. It wasn't like a Jekll-Hyde sort of thing. Not at the time. Until a couple of weeks ago. That's when I started to black out."

"Where was that?"

"When I had been coming home from my lab at ESU. I had been there for a while when I noticed things began to change. My vison and perception were changing. I then suddenly had this odd taste in my mouth. I decided to go home, but as went to the subway I blacked out. Next thing I know I'm faced down in an alley way somewhere in lower Manhattan. With no idea how I got there and my clothes were in tatters.

"That's when you knew?"

"Almost, I was curious so I took a blood sample from myself and then analyzed. I noticed something very shocking. My DNA had changed and I found certain mutations in the genetic structure. At that point I knew what I had done was a grave mistake. Also I've noticed that the chnages have been coming more frequently. I fear that soon I will be no more and that hulking reptile will be in my place."

Spidey was still hanging from the ceiling. "So what are you going to do?"

Conners took a deep breath. "I'm going to tell my wife and son about what I did. Then I'm going to devote myself to a cure."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I have a friend in Florida who can help me with my research. Also he can help me when I . . . you know."

Spidey, "Yes I understand." He dropped down and went over to Conners' webbed hand. He took the webbing and yanked it off Conners' right hand. Once again leaving it free. He then faced Conners. "I'm sorry how I went after you like that. It's just that I had a run-in with your alter-ego."

"Please, will you not call it that."

"What would I call it, then?"

"It's basically a glandular dysfunction."

"Then that is the mother of all glandular dysfunctions."

Conners gave a small smile.

"Goodbye Doc, hope you get rid of this thing."

"I hope so to."

Spidey went over and shook hands with Conners. He then went over to the open window, shot a webline, and disappeared from sight. Leaving Conners once again alone in the house.



When Peter Parker arrived at his home later that night, he sat down and began to do his work. He was in deep thought about what he had seen and what he had heard from Doctor Conners. He hoped for the best for the man and wished good luck in his search for a cure.

As he was typing away at his keyboard. Peter looked down at his hands. He knew how special they were, making him able to stick to surfaces and make him climb walls. Peter wondered that if there were just one small change in the genetic make-up of that spider. He would probably be facing a problem similar to Conners. The fear that at anytime he could turn into a creature of horror. That he could no longer be able to face the ones he loved without that fear hanging over him. It was a fear that hung in his mind, like so many others. But Peter did his best with what he had. He hoped that Conners would do the same.





Four weeks later





It was near midnight in the muggy Florida Everglades. Deserted with the exception of exotic flora and fauna that existed there. In the total darkness was one man. He stood there with perfect military posture, staring at the moon.

He noticed that with his changed vision, he could see colors that no ordinary person could see. That the swamp was brimming with color that only he and the other creatures could see. It was as if that before he would disappear for a time that could be indefinite, that he was given a little bit of beauty to treasure before he would face oblivion.

And while he believed he was getting closer to a cure. Doctor Curtis Conners could only hope he was given enough time before humanity slips away.



The End