Part Five

The Lizard slipped back into the preserve. He hid under some bushes in one of the habitats and gazed at his body. Gashes and bruises littered the surface, and he knew that some of his muscles had been torn or at least suffered serious strain.

He hissed angrily and moved some dirt aside, revealing about a dozen vials full of his miraculous formula. He raised one of the tubes and eyed it eagerly.

Now that his presence was known, he would have to make his move without delay, already he had noticed increased police presence coming back to the preserve.

There were about a dozen or so guards running around. Taking each one of them down would be a simple matter. "Nothing mussst ssstop me." He gazed at the blue liquid and snickered, "Nothing."

Peter walked into the lobby in order to make sure everything was ready for their departure. Explaining things to not only Gwen but a dozen or so people and the police had been an arduous process but he had gotten through it.

He merely told them that he had done his best to stop the Lizard but failed and was quickly beaten. All of the damage had been as a result of the monster going on a rampage.

Peter had a slight limp but managed well enough. He wished he had brought along his Spider-Man costume but without it, he'd have to make the best of it.

Due to the recent incident, most of the students were moving into nearby hotels, where they would wait out the rest of the week and then return home. Most of them had been exhausted by the attack and just wanted to sleep in their own beds.

Peter made the final arrangements and was about to leave and meet Gwen outside when Mary Jane approached the counter. "I'm checking out." She said.

The man behind the counter, grimly nodded, looking at the carnage and police lines all around the hotel, "Give me one second." He said before walked into one of the rooms behind the counter to get everything in order.

Peter was silent and merely watched MJ with nervous eyes. "Listen, I'm sorry about what happened the other night." She responded with only silence. "I really am." He said gravely, "It was a stupid thing to say and I feel bad about it."

"You should." MJ coldly responded.

"I deserved that." Peter replied, his face somber, "I can be pretty dumb some times." He raised his eyes, "I had no placing saying anything like that. If you don't want to speak to me again, I'll understand." His tone was full of regret.

MJ looked at him for a minute. She seemed to want to say something but decided not to and returned to her silent composure.

"I guess this is bye then." Peter said sorrowfully, "Bye." He began to walk towards the door. He sighed and placed his hand against the door.

"Wait." MJ said. "Peter." He turned around and faced her, "What you did was horrible." She shook her head, "You have no idea how much that hurts. Especially, because its true."

Peter shook his head, "Hey." He walked forward and leaned in towards her, "You don't have to do that. You don't need some guy to make you feel important or special. Mary Jane, the first time I saw you, I knew you were the kind of person that I would want to be with. I don't care about any of the mistakes you made, because they're just that, mistakes." He grabbed her hand and held it tightly, "I knew you had the drive to overcome anything and that deep down you were a good person. I still do."

She smiled, "I appreciate that, Tiger."

"I'll see you around." Peter said. He turned around and made his way for the door. He placed his hands against the door once again, but something held him back.

He spotted something on the floor, a blood-soaked ID, and picked it up. "What's this?" Peter looked at the face of a man and then the name printed next to it: Jack Davis. Apparently, he was a security guard for one of Florida's preserves.

Peter's eyes widened, "I was there." He murmured, looking at the name and address of the preserve. "Dr. Connors must have dropped this." He clenched his free fist, "That's where he is."

Flash Thompson spotted Parker leaving the hotel after having a short discussion with Gwen Stacy, that obviously left her somewhat disappointed and he was quickly making an immediate run for the bus.

"What's he all worked up about?" Asked one of his friends.

"I don't know." Flash said quietly, "I'm going to find out."

One of the other guys in his small group frowned, "Why? We already tried to get him at the party and that didn't work. You're lucky you're even alive."

Flash waved his hand dismissingly, "Shut up! I'm going to handle this on my own. Give me your bat."

"This certainly doesn't look good." Peter commented as he entered the preserve. The front gate was abandoned and opened. "Hello?" He called out.

There was no response, forcing him deeper into the preserve. He walked along the roads, looking for any sign of the guards. There was none, the preserve seemed completely abandoned.

"Tell me the guards are on their lunch break or something." He looked across the preserve and saw nothing except for some alligators and crocodiles in their habitats. "Is anybody here?"

Peter walked towards the center of the preserve, staying close to the path. "This place can't be completely empty!" He protested. "Is there anyone here?" He screamed loudly, desperately trying to find any sign of life. Peter approached the edge of the alligator tank. Inside he saw a perfect recreation of a swamp, but none of the gators. "This just gets more and more creepy."

"Spider-sense." Peter exclaimed grabbed the back of his head. He spun around and saw a horrible creature approach him. It was a cross between a reptile and a man. "Dr. Connors?" He inquired and then looked at its features, "No, something else." Suddenly, two others joined the creature. "Why do I suddenly think coming here alone was a bad idea? Probably, because it was."

The first Lizard-Man closed in on him and swiped furiously with its arms. Peter dodged the first attack and blocked the second. He then struck back with a dropkick.

The other Lizard-Men attacked. They worked in unison to take down their opponent. Peter pulled off a back flip and in the process smashed his feet against the jaw of one of the creatures. Upon landed, he found himself engaged with another of the Lizard-Man.

The creature punched Peter across the jaw. The first thing he noticed was they were weaker than Dr. Connors, but still strong enough for their blows to hurt.

Peter hit the Lizard-Man with a solid uppercut and the force of the blow sent the monster crashing against a light pole.

The remaining Lizard-Man advanced on Peter and swiped him with his tail.

"Ah!" Peter took the hit and fell against the bars that kept him from entering the alligator habitat.

The Lizard-Man hit Peter in the stomach and threw him across the floor. It hissed angrily and acting only on primal instinct he leapt for the human.

Peter raised both his legs and used the Lizard-Man's own momentum against him, once the creature came in close enough his feet acted like a spring and threw the monster into the nearby trees.

"What have you been up to, Dr. Connors?" He asked as he slowly rose to his feet. "Spider-sense again." It was then that Peter realized the horrible truth. He was surrounded by Lizard-Men. "Hi guys." He said lightly.

Out of the crowd, emerged the ravenous Lizard, "Parker, welcome. What do you think of the product of my geniusss? I was forccced to ussse the pressservesss sssecurity forccce and the local reptilesss but they have proven more than sssuitable for the tasssk at hand."

"I've seen better." He replied sarcastically.

The Lizard frowned, "Thessse creaturesss are inferior to me in every way, but are ssstill more than powerful enough to begin the firssst ssstepsss of the assscccendancy of a far more worthy ssspeciesss."

Peter raised his eyes, "Dogs?"

This blatant sarcasm was more than the Lizard could take. He hissed slowly before giving the fateful order, "Kill him."