Part Seven
"Prepare a military strike." The General ordered, "It seems the Avengers have failed in their mission."
"You want us to destroy an entire building in the middle of Manhattan? We can't cover that up." One of his officers asked.
"And if Connors escapes and contaminates the entire city then what?" The General looked at the men under his command sadly, "The Avengers are dead; nobody worth saving is alive anymore. Destroy that building."
The Lizard moved across the helipad towards the awaiting helicopter. In his hands he held a suitcase. Inside were samples of his formula and data on his work. After a quick drop by the river in which he intended to pollute it with the very formula that had transformed him he would head then go underground and simply await for his new age to dawn.
He walked to the pilot with a matter-a-fact tone, "Jan isss dead, ssshe was killed by Avenger assasssinss. I'm in control now."
"Yes sir." The pilot replied somewhat uncertain.
He placed his serum and data into the helicopter and prepared to enter as well when a web-line connected to his feet and dragged him away from the chopper, "You're alive? Why do you persssisst in trying to ssstop me?"
Peter let go of the line which the Lizard furiously ripped away, "Because…" He had planned on something witty but Steve's words echoed through his mind, "Because I have to."
The Lizard grimaced, "Fool." He moved with such speed back into the chopper that by the time Peter had fired another line the door was already closed. "Take usss up!" He ordered.
The chopper began to rise off the ground, Peter grimaced, he couldn't let him escape this was his only chance. As it pulled away from the building, Peter connected a web-line to the side of the helicopter taking him with it.
The Lizard snarled staring out the window only to see Spider-Man hitching a ride with them, "Circle the building, we're not leaving until he'sss dead!" He opened the door to the chopper and stared down at Peter who slowly approached up his web-line. "Come Parker, it'sss way passst your bed-time!"
Peter reached the landing legs and braced his feet against them as the Lizard joined him. Peter swung clumsily to which the reptilian monster batted him away and landed a punch to his right cheek-bone.
The next strike, Peter ducked under and landed a hook-kick to the Lizard's neck. The latter coughed up blood but did little to cease his attack. Peter suffered a hit to the gut nearly knocking him off the landing leg.
Meanwhile the approaching fighter-jets soared over New York. "I see the building, waiting for the order to fire." The pilot said reporting back to home-base.
The order came, full of emotion and determination. "Open fire, level that building."
The Lizard grimaced at the sight of the missile entering the building. The glass seemed to strangely warp before an explosion tore the building apart. The burning wreckage came down like some apocalyptic vision of hell.
The hot metal and burning flame crashed down on the Lizard's forces in the courtyard including the remaining half of the symbiotes.
"Thossse murderersss!" The Lizard exclaimed.
"See, Connors, that's why I don't hang out with you anymore, you take everything too seriously, I mean that was a pretty cool explosion." Peter replied mockingly.
The Lizard was in no mood; summoning the full force of his strength he swatted Spider-Man off the helicopter, "At lassst, no more cossstumed interlopers."
Peter was falling off the chopper, a dire situation for anyone else, indeed. But for him it was simply a matter of firing a web-line which he did perfectly. Losing his hold on the Lizard didn't mean it was over though; he realized there was still a chance. The roof of the building wasn't consumed by the flames yet and he landed on it majestically.
The chopper was now preparing to turn away but Peter fired a web-line and tightly gripped his end. He now ran in the opposite direction of the roof continue to supply the line with more and more webbing bringing his right shooter to near empty. At the edge he dived off and swung over to a nearby building never loosening on his line. Then reaching that building he put his remaining force into holding the line and clinging to the wall. "If I know anything at all it is that this should work, that is if my hands don't fly off my body."
The Lizard frowned when the chopper stopped moving forward and rocked back and forth awkwardly, "What'sss wrong?"
"Something's holding us back." The pilot exclaimed, "I've lost control." The chopper jerked suddenly, "Crap!"
"What?"
The pilot frowned struggling with the joystick, "We're being pulled back; I'm loosing altitude." A siren began to scream, "We're stalling!"
The Lizard looked out the window and saw the web-line trailing across the roof being tugged on powerfully, "Parker." He growled.
The helicopter erratically began to bank towards the building. The Lizard roared furiously and slammed his hand against the side of the chopper and then stared at the burning and twisted building before them drawing ever closer, "Parker!" The explosion from their impact pierced the very gloom that seemed to have taken hold of the night and the burning bright fire appeared to be more pure than even the stars in the sky before finally leaving nothing but the twisted pieces of steel and metal to crash down into the street.
That very night, Peter was sitting in the medical wing of the Avengers headquarters. The medics were looking him over, apparently despite a pretty good beating; he was in generally good condition except for dehydration which they fixed right up with a nice constant supply of liquids.
The General entered the room in which Peter was resting; he'd been supplied with some civilian clothes and a duffle bag to hide his costume in. "Spider-Man I just wanted to say thank you."
"Don't sweat it, I do this for a living anyhow." Peter replied wearily. "Listen, about Cap, he uh, he didn't go down without a fight. He was a good guy, maybe the best of us."
"I know." He sighed, "With Connors dead and their facility destroyed it seems that the threat of the Venom Symbiote is over and done with."
Peter nodded, "Thank God for that."
The General took on a more relaxed demeanor, "As thanks we'll convince the Justice Department to drop any and all warrants for your arrest, I hope one day we can work together again. I trust it wasn't an entirely unpleasant experience."
"No." Peter stared at his own reflection, "In the mirror, it wasn't. Listen, I'm going to go home, thanks for everything."
Walking down the streets, everything seemed fresher; the death of Connors lifted a weight off his shoulders. All he wanted to do was go home and fall asleep in Mary Jane's arms. What was it she had wanted to tell him anyway? She seemed always worried about something these days.
He turned the corner and immediately the freshness was gone, replaced by an old familiar feeling: fear. His house, his home was burning down to the ground. Peter ran to it, his heart frozen in time. Reaching the edge of the wreckage his spider-sense felt the presence of someone that was still inside and alive.
Peter dropped his bag and leapt into the house. He moved past the debris horrified for what awaited him. He moved over the flames that had consumed the stairwell and opened the door to his room after navigating the hazards in the hallway. A huge breach had been torn into the side of his room and a pile of debris revealed a hand under it. Peter pulled it aside and stared at the scorched face of the sole survivor, "Uncle Ben!" He screamed, "Uncle Ben!" He picked him up and escape through the breach and pulled his injured uncle away from the burning home into the street. "Somebody call for help!" He screamed into the night, "Call for help!" Tears began to stream down his face; he couldn't go through this again, not again.
"P-Peter." Ben said under great pain, "Peter, you're here."
He nodded holding him tightly, "I'm here. What happened, how did this happen?" Peter rubbed his eyes emotionally.
"O-Osborn." Ben said nearly forcing Peter to collapse, "My God, Peter's he's the Gob-." Blood seemed to be pouring from just left to his stomach, "I tried to st-stop him."
"No." Peter cried into the night woefully, "Hold on, Ben, just hold on, paramedics should be coming soon."
Ben grimaced before coughing up blood, hiss time was nearing its end, "Kid, I need you to know something, he took her, he took Mary Jane, they already has Gwen too, he had her in his arms." He coughed again but the blood was now turning from a dark red to simply black, "You need to stop him, Peter, you-you have to stop them both."
"Them?" Peter asked, "Who else was there?"
"Oc-Octavius, he was there too, they said they were going to make you suffer for what you did to both of them. Peter…Pete-… Mary Jane didn't want to t-tell you, she was afraid of what it meant." He was at this point even struggling to breath; "She's pregnant, s-she told me a few days a-a-ago. You have to save both of them." Ben began to cry as well, feeling the approach of death, "STOP THEM; Stop Them; stop them…" He was gone.
Peter closed his uncle's lifeless eyes and for the second time in his life he had lost a parent. He lowered his head grief and rage swelling up in him. The sounds of fire-truck sirens echoed down the street almost ushering him on. He carefully lay Ben down on the ground and moved to his duffle bag. Peter opened it and pulled out his war-torn Spider-Man costume, it was all he had; the rest of his spares had burnt down with the house. "I will; Uncle Ben, I promise it." He pulled the mask back over, the burn marks still fresh, "I'll kill them both."