Part Five
"The Avengersss are now fighting my sssuper-ssoldiers." The Lizard declared looking at the camera feed, "Ssspider-Man isss doomed in hiss battle againssst Ssscarlet Witch and Captain America isss waging through my men in an effort to reach these chambersss." The Lizard laughed, "My plan isss proceeding like clockwork."
The Lizard roared, "Thissss iss jussst the beginning, sssoon I'll remove thossse X-Men, I'll do away with the Fantassstic Four. Thisss will be wonderful!"
Jan had stood there in silence, "Your super-soldiers? Your men are they?" She laughed, "I should have seen this coming."
"Yesss, you ssshould have and I believe you did. But you were ssso lossst when Fury died that you gladly welcome any direction that I could offer, even if it only furthered my goalsss." The Lizard snickered and hissed in cojunction, "I appreciate you're cooperation in thisss matter, Jan, I really do, if you weren't so repulsssive to my eyesss I'd offer an embracsse."
She raised a weapon, "Don't lose too much sleep over it." Even as she pulled the trigger one of the super-soldiers guarding the Lizard lashed out and slashed her hand off with a blade-like arm. "God!" Jan held her bloody limb in shock.
"You ssshouldn't have done that." The Lizard replied, "Now I'll have to remove you." He told her not even bothering to look away from the cameras. His tail wrapped around her neck, "Goodbye, Jan, I enjoyed our working relation sssuch asss it wasss, even if it did end abruptly." And with that he snapped her neck.
"Now that we are over that unpleasssentness maybe I can finally get work done." The Lizard exclaimed gleefully.
"I thought fire was supposed to hurt these things!" Giant-Man blurted out in the heat of battle.
"It was supposed to." Hawkeye fired a spray from his arrows into one of the creatures. It took it and kept on coming. "My arrows, they're not powerful enough. Look out, Janet!" He called to the Wasp even as she was gripped by one of the abominations and slammed into a tree. He desperately fired whatever arrows he could into her attacker trying to force it away from her.
It was no use, the monster held her against the tree and viciously slit her neck; she was gone. Hawkeye rolled back just in time to avoid a slash from one scythe-like arm.
Giant Man punched one with his fist, only now realizing Janet's death, his anger intensifying. He smashed another creature into the floor but it rose as if feeling no pain. One of the monsters tore into his leg, ripping away with its sharp fingers. He twisted its head off and threw the body elsewhere.
Another creature jumped onto his face, ripping him apart with its claws, "Help me!" He screamed. Hawkeye couldn't take a shot, he'd hit Hank. He was helpless; Giant Man fell down struggling to get the creature from his face.
Hawkeye fired another arrow into the gut of a creature, the explosion nearly ripped it in two, but the monster crawled along the ground as if caught in a bloodlust.
Hank's screams still echoed across the courtyard. Hawkeye scanned the scene for Scarlet Witch she was nowhere to be scene. He had assumed they had gotten her and continued on.
The explosions of his arrows forced some of the monsters back but did not stop them for long. Hawkeye rolled and took cover behind the now lifeless body of Hank Pym. It was him, he was alone and they knew it.
"If I'm going to die, I'm going to die as an Avenger damn it!" He emerged from his cover firing away forcing the monsters to scatter. Hawkeye screamed a primal roar. Adrenaline flowed without stop, his senses heightened. He shot one down and another but they kept coming, they just kept moving. He backed up against a tree; this was it, his final stand. "Come on, that's it, keep on coming for more!" He fired one into a creature's eye injuring but not killing it.
Then he looked up into the tree's branches and saw the scythe coming down, he aimed up but it was too late. After a moment of tearing flesh, Hawkeye went down and the creatures celebrated it.
The Lizard laughed, "The mighty Avengersss, defeated in full." The chambers seemed full of life. He stretched out his arms and embraced the power he held, "They are all dead, nothing ssstands between me and that which isss rightly mine!"
A shield slammed into the Lizard's back and returned to its owner. Captain America stood, "You're not getting jack as long as I'm still breathing."
The Lizard's creations immediately covered him, "No, ssstand assside." He ordered and they loyally complied, "I've been looking forward to my assscension for far too long to allow you or anyone elssse for that matter to halt my rissse to power."
"Is that so?" Steve gripped his shield, "Then you better be ready for me because I'm going to give you everything I got."
The Lizard snickered more than ready for his patriotic foe, "Bring it on, sssoldier-boy!"
Peter landed against the wall, "Okay, let's see if that was lucky!" He jumped from the wall only to be thrown back by the power of Scarlet Witch's mind. His back was aching his jaw was throbbing. "Guess not."
"It's funny that Puny Parker could have developed into such a super-loser; Ironic really in a way." Scarlet Witch laughed, "Such a joke."
"Nobody's called me Puny Parker in a long time." Peter closed his fist, "Lady, I'm going to take the kid-gloves off just for you."
She began to twist his spine to its breaking limit, "There's nothing you can do to stop me."
Peter managed to fire a spray of webbing only for it to be stopped inches from her face and suddenly collapse. She threw him onto the floor, "Admit it, your powers are nothing when compared to mine. What's super-strength when you can't hit me, what's speed when I know your every move, what's a warning sense when it does you no good, when I can nullify it whenever I wish? You're finished Spider-Man."
She was right and he knew it, he was done for, totally bested by her power. She knew everything that was going on in his mind and he couldn't do a damned thing to stop her…or could he. He had no time to consider it, he had to act now, take advantage before she realized what he was up to. "E equals M C squared." Peter screamed and rose back, "Pie is not a perfect 3!" He took a step towards her, "Mr. Warren, Flash keeps farting!" He jumped off the side of a wall moving with every bit of speed he could muster before she could react and landed a punch sending her into the wall forcefully.
"What are you doing?" She asked, dazed and rubbing her bloody lips, "How are you blocking my telepathy?"
Peter's focus would not be broken, "I'm an Oscar Meyer Weiner damn it!" He tackled her at lightning speed and she was thrown into the elevator door denting it. "MJ's got a great body and its all mine!" He had to think of something, can't let her read his mind just a few more blows.
He moved forward again only for her to freeze one of his legs. "May always told me I was too fragile!" He landed clumsily but fired a spray of webbing that caught her feet, "I study for six hours every day!" Peter used the web-line to slam her against the building, her head knocked against the wall and she collapsed.
Seeing her go down was one of the most satisfying things to happen in his long and brutal career as Spider-Man, he felt like cheering, patting himself on the back, that is if he hadn't been so damn tired. He gasped for air and leaned back weakly, "I made it." He laughed, "Peter Parker, you're a smart sob, now let's see how Cap's doing with any luck he's already got Connors beat."
The Lizard stood over Steve Rogers' mangled body, "Pathetic." He remarked wiping his jaw of saliva.
"You won't win." He said gasping for air even as blood poured from his lips, "You won't, you can't win." He reached for the pack attached to the back of costume trying to grab the C-4 but by now he was too far gone, loosing all focus. "S-somebody will stop you?"
"Who?" The Lizard asked furiously, "Who will ssstop me? Parker'sss fighting the Ssscarlet Witch that isss if ssshe hassn't killed him already, the Avengersss are gone and so are you. You're living in a fantasssy if you can't sssee that I have thoroughly won!"
Steve dragged his body closer to the Lizard, one of his legs fell apart, loosing the torn tissue it had been held by; he cried in pain but continued on, "Stop you, got to stop you."
The Lizard laughed, "Poor diluted fool. Ssstill trying, holding onto your vaunted idealsss or is it the prinissciple of the thing? Give it up, America and the Freedom you fight for isss a joke, bringing on nothing but ssselfishnesss, greed, the worssst of your people out into the open for anyone with eyesss to sssee and if itsss pride that'sss keeping you going, well then feel free to expire when you wisssh, I have work to finisssh.. " He laughed and picked Captain America up by his head, "Now if you don't mind pleassse keep the noissse to a minimum?"
"Sto-St." His eyes began to roll back into his head and then he spotted something in the corner of his eye, "C…Pack, I still have it, my Pack!" He gasped for air one last time and then no more. He was dead. The Lizard seemed to smile and look at his creations proudly, only they're expressions were that of concern and of what he soon found out.
"Connors!" Spider-Man said sternly. "It's the end of the line for you."
The Lizard laughed, "Really?" He dropped Rogers, face first on the ground, "Well, let'sss sssee how you do againsssst the next dominant sssspeciesss of thisss planet. My children; kill the intruder, eat hisss flesssh!"
Six of the Lizard's beasts approached. Peter jumped over the first kicking it as it passed by. The next swiped at him that Peter ducked easily enough landing two kicks to its gut. The third came in hard, but Peter hit him back with an uppercut.
The Lizard grimaced. He had know this would happen, the Avengers competent enough as they were could never match the pure fighting skill of Spider-Man, he'd have to take precautions. He pressed a button on his terminal calling for a helicopter to land on the roof. Even if Spider-Man survived this encounter, humanity would still be doomed; the Lizard intended to make sure of it.