Spider-Man scaled the tall University building to the next floor as fast as his arms and legs could carry him. Once he got there, he found that the window was open and discovered several claw marks leading to the roof of the building. Spider-Man took a quick peek through the window just to make sure Dr. Connors wasn't in there. The whole place was trashed...even more then Kitty and Peter left it just a few seconds ago. Spider-Man began to scale the wall and tried to think of what could possibly happen to turn Dr. Connors into a giant lizard. Peter noticed that Connors had a weird obsession with lizards, mostly because that's all he talked about throughout their time together. He also noticed that Connors was missing an arm, which he lost in some kind fo accident that involved one of his experiments a long time ago.

Once Spider-Man reached the top of the building, he came to the conclusion that Dr. Connors most likely injected lizard traits in himself to grow another arm. Spider-Man looked around to see several claw marks and lizard skin shadings throughout the roof top. He was here. He knew it. "Heeeerree, lizard, lizard, lizard!" called Spider-Man. "Come out and plaaaay!" Spider-Man slowly scanned the rooftop. Suddenly, there was a rattling sound from behind. Spider-Man swung around to see what it was...but nothing was there. "He's here," he said to himself. "I know it."

Spider-Sense.

Spider-Man swung himself around only to be tackled by Dr. Connors, who was still a gigantic lizard...with two arms. The two Neo-genetic nightmares wrestled each other all over this roof. After a few minutes of struggling, Spider-Man got the upper hand and pinned both of the lizards wrists to the ground. "Doctor!" Spider-Man yelled trying to get him to calm down. "Doctor! Please! You have to calm down!" It was to no avail. The lizard squirmed violently to get loose, but Spider-Man was determined to keep him pinned. "You got you're arm back! But at what price!? Look at you! Is this what you want to be for the rest of you're life!?" Just then, the lizard's shakes became more violent, and the launched Spider-Man over the roof top. Luckily, he caught himself on the ledge and quickly pulled himself up...on to see a airborne lizard sailing right for him.
The lizard and Spider-Man both sailed through to air over the gap between rooftops and landed on another. Spider-Man tried once again to get the upper hand in this little fight, but the lizard was too strong. The lizard swiped away at Spider-Man's chest, tearing the spandex an the skin. The teenager eventually broke free for a few seconds, but was again tackled by the overgrown reptile. Spider-Man tried everything possible to break free, but nothing was working. He was out done in every way.

Just the, a flashing red light followed by a blast sound came from Spider-Man's right. Just then, the lizard was launched right off of Spider-Man and landed very close to the edge of the rooftop. Although Spider-Man knew who it was, he looked to his right, and saw Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Jean, Shadowcat, Storm.....and Wolverine. Spider-Man remained on his back and put is palm over his eyes. He has a feeling that he's going to get in trouble for this. Soon enough, Spidey kicked himself up and placed himself right next to the rest of the X-Men.

"What is that?" asked Cyclops with his hands still on his visor.

"Dr. Connors," replied Shadowcat reluctantly.

"What?" asked Storm. "How?"

"We'll get to that later!" insisted Wolverine revealing his claws. He began to approach the fallen reptile cautiously.

"Don't hurt him!" begged Spider-Man. Wolverine didn't listen. He got into a fighting position and was ready for a fight. Spider-Man knew Wolverine didn't listen. "He's just like me"
That got everyone's attention. Even Wolverine looked back at the young unnatural mutant. That was when the lizard decided to attack. He tackled down Logan and the true brutes began to wrestle each other down much like what Spider-Man did before him. Cyclops was about to blast the lizard again, but Jean took charge instead. She used her telekinesis to left the lizard and threw him onto another nearby rooftop with force. Logan got up and was ready for another attack.

Just then, Spider-Man thought of something. "Wait!" he yelled before anyone else tried anything. The X-Men all looked at Spider-Man waiting for an explanation. "I have an idea," he said quietly. Everyone, except Wolverine heard him. Spider-Man then turned to the unofficial leader of the X-Men, Cyclops. "Keep him busy. But don't hurt him." With that said, Peter leaped off the building and began to scale down the wall very quickly.

"Spider-Man!" yelled Cyclops trying to stop the young X-Men.

"Cyclops, let him go," said Storm after putting her hand on his shoulder. The leader than turned to Storm and gave her an unsure look. "He knows what he's doing."

Meanwhile, Spider-Man climbed down the same wall he climbed up a few minutes ago to chase Connors. He began to look through every window until he finds the doctor's lab. After a few minutes of searching, he finally found the window the lizard crawled out of. Spider-Man launched himself through the open window and began to look around the room for something. Anything. A vile. A needle. A cup. Anything that the doctor might have used to turn him into this thing. ...BUT THE ROOM IS TRASHED!!!

Spider-Man began throwing papers, flipping tables, moving cabinets, until he eventually found something. It was a steel case. About an hour ago, Peter noticed the steel case on the desk that was marked with "RGS" in black marker while he was doing his experiments with the doctor. He had been wondering what "RGS" stood for...in fact...he still does. Peter was about to discard the case, but he then discovered that the case had 3 combination locks and a key hole. Spider-Man was convinced that this has something to do with the doctor turning into a lizard.
Since he didn't know the combinations or where the key went, Spider-Man ripped off the case door and looked into it and saw 6 different injection needles with some kind of fluid inside. One of them was empty. "This has to be it!" Spider-Man yelled to himself as he picked up and examined two of the needles. One of them said 'RGS', and the other said 'Emergency Serum'.

"Well, this is an emergency," said Spider-Man as he put the 'RGS' needle back, keeping the other one.
Injection needle in hand, Spidey scaled the building as quickly as possible. When he got to the top, he saw the lizard lying on the floor unconscious at the feet of Wolverine and the X-Men. Spider-Man tilted his head. "Wait...that's it?" he asked in disbelief. "You knocked him out in 3 minutes?"

"Yup," replied Wolverine with a very small smirk on his face. "Turns out that this guy's all bark."

"That's..strange," replied Spidey baffled. He always thought that he was naturally stronger than Wolverine because of his powers. "Here," began Spider-Man again as he showed the X-Men the needle he just discovered. "I think this will turn him back to his human state." Spider-Man handed the needle over to Jean, see as though that she had the most medical experience out of all of the X-Men so for...even though she's only 18.

"Ok," Jean said knowing what to do. She slowly approached the fallen lizard, needle in hand. She dropped to her knee and proceeded to put the needle through the neck of the giant reptile.

Spider-sense.

"JEAN! GET BACK!!!" Spider-man yelled. All of a sudden, the lizard got up and swiped right at Jean. Luckily for Spidey's warning, the lizard missed the girl, but she was so startled that she dropped the needle. Cyclops did not hesitate to release a force blast against the lizard, but it dodged it and knocked the leader back to the edge of the building.

"He musta' been fakin' it," said Wolverine withdrawing his claws again. Spider-Man decided it was up to him. He leaped in the air and used his web from his left wrist to grab the needle from the ground, and the web from his right wrist to immobilize the overgrown reptile. Still airborne, Spider-Man then tackled the temporarily immobile lizard and tied his neck to the ground with his web.

"Now, hold still! This won't hurt a bit!" Spider-Man then injected the serum from the needle into Connors' green neck. Just then Spidey's danger sense told him to get the hell away from Connors, and he did precisely that. The lizard broke free from the web, and began to grip his neck very tightly. His roars began to grow. It was no doubt that the injection was working.

"The hell?" asked Nightcrawler.

"I think it's working..." said Spider-Man quietly, not exactly sure himself. Just then, the lizard started changing. He's skin slowly began to change into a smoother tan color. His red eyes slowly began to change back to brown, and his left arm shrunk back into his body. Soon enough, the overgrown reptile was completely human again laying on the roof top. Nightcrawler and Cyclops were astonished by what they just saw, and Shadowcat was biting her nails in fear of Dr. Connors' life. Jean slowly approached the one armed man, dropped to her knees, and touched his neck.

"He's still alive," reported Jean to the rest of her team. "But he's unconscious." Jean continued as she got back to her feet to get a better look at the doctor. "And from the looks of things, he's going to be for a long time."

"So, what should we do now?" Cyclops turned to the two older X-Men.

"We should leave him in his lab," replied Wolverine. An answer the rest of the X-Men were not expecting.

"What?" asked Shadowcat most likely being the one who disagrees with Storm's decision most.

"Why? He's just like us! Why should we just leave him here as if nothing happened?"

"He's not like us," said Storm softly as she approached the unconscious doctor, and turned her head to the team. "We are human beings gifted with abilities that we did not ask for. What we are is fate. Something we cannot control." Storm then turned her head to Dr. Connors. "This man did this to himself. And there is nothing.....we can do for him."

"She's right," said Spider-Man almost reluctantly. "Dr. Connors tried to played God and change his genetic structure. He wanted his arm badly so bad that he would mess with his own body just to get it back. You know it's true, Kitty," Spider-Man turned to Shadowcat. "You could tell just by the way he talked about it that he was willing to give many things up just to get his arm back. He needs to realize what's really important in life." He then turned to the rest of his team. "As long as he quits trying to change himself, he should be alright. But the Xavier Institute...our institute, is about accepting the fact that you have abilities, and how you can control them. Not cure them."

The X-Men were silent after Spider-Man's speech. Cyclops was the first one to break the silence. "You were practicing that speech this whole time, weren't you?" he asked with a smile.

"Kinda," replied Spider-Man. "Was it good? Did I go to fast?"

"No, it was perfect," replied Cyclops still smiling. Jean, Storm, and Shadowcat each rolled their eyes.

"I like how you threw in 'our institute,'" added Nightcrawler. "Makes me feel special."

"Ever thought of becoming a politician?" asked Cyclops with his hand on his chin. Wolverine smirked at the interaction.
"Boys," said Storm. "If you don't mind? Would you mind helping us carry Dr. Connors back to his lab?"

llllllllll

Dr. Connors woke up early the next morning. He looked around to realize that he was in lab....it was completely trashed. He rubbed his head firmly and tried to recall exactly what happened the night before. All he can remember is injecting himself with... "Oh, no!" yelled the doctor as he quickly got to his feet. "Where are they?"

The doctor desperately searched his disgruntled lab for something, but quickly stopped after realizing he stepped on something. The case. The steel case that has the 'RGS' marking on it. It was destroyed, but was still covering the contents inside of it. The Doctor quickly took off the broken cover...only to realize the box was empty.

Wait...there was something in there. And index card. The doctor picked it up and read it.
"COURTESY OF YOU'RE FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD X-MEN"

llllllllll

The next afternoon.

"So Connors was the one at the church a couple of weeks ago!" said Kurt.

Kurt (With image inducer), Amanda, Peter, and Kitty were at the food court in the mall eating their usual food. Amanda and Kitty were both had their 'healthy' subway sandwiches, Kurt was eating one of those ridiculously huge cheese burgers, and Peter had a huge slice of pizza.a true New Yorker. "No shit, Kurt," said Peter trying to relax himself. His body, especially his scratched chest was still in pain, and if he ever wanted to sneak out of the institute again, he had to rest up.

"Pete," began Kitty after taking a bit from her food. "Are you sure it was a good idea to leave that note in Dr. Connors' case?"

"Oh yeah," Peter assured Kitty with a mouth full of pizza. "I do it all the time. No big deal. He won't know what that means anyway, right?"

"Then why did you do it?" asked Amanda.

"It's a trademark!" replied Peter causing everyone to laugh. "What? All the best people have trademarks! Batman with his batarang! Even that Gambit guy has a trademark. His Cards!"

"Ja, but Gambit is a thief, no?" said Kurt with his mouth still full. Peter was about to protest, but Kurt stopped him after realizing something. "Yo, Pete! Check it out!" He said pointing behind Peter. He looked over his should only to see the gang of kids that approached him the other day at school to find out his homework assignment. "It's your girlfriends, Gwen and Felicia!"

"Shut up, Kurt!" said Kitty as she hit the disguised blue elf trying to defend Peter.but he hadn't turned back around yet.

The rest of the day went...well....usual. They stayed at the mall for 3 more hours because Kitty and Amanda just HAD to get this blouse, or they just HAD to get a 75-dollar pair of jeans, or they just HAD to make Kurt and Peter wish they were dead.

"Please, Kurt!" begged Amanda. "This won't take long, I promise! After this we can go! I swear!"

"Ok, ok! Fine!" Kurt finally gave up as they stood in front of the Abercrombie and Fitch store. "We'll wait out here. You have 15 minutes!" The girls practically squealed and wasted no time at the very expensive clothing store. "You know what?" Kurt asked Peter. "I really, REALLY, wish that Rogue was here right now!" Peter laughed. If Rogue was here, she wouldn't be taking this crap, and they would have left the mall an hour ago. "I mean honestly, where the hell is she when you need her?"

"In a nice, comfortable bed at the mansion," Peter answered Kurt's question. "..exactly where I want to be right now." He put his hand on his chest. He was still aching and exhausted from last night, not to mention all the other nights.

"Damn," Kurt began putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Your still out of it, aren't you?"

Peter quickly pulled himself together and ignored the pain. "Nah, it's no big deal. I'll snap out of it in a day or two." Peter saw them again. Gwen and her painfully familiar boyfriend, this time they were alone, and he was trying to touch Gwen in inappropriate-in-public places. She had an annoyed face as she tried to fight her boyfriend off. Peter tightened his fist very hard in frustration. Who was he? Where has he seen him before? And why is Peter getting so worked up about this?

"You really like her, don't you?" asked Kurt.

"Kurt I swear to God I've seen that guy before," Peter spoke with such confidence. "Not just at school, or around here or anything...something really..."

"Ryan! Stop!" Gwen said sounding annoyed.

And then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Peter just remembered hearing those exact words before. "Holy shit..." said Peter who was in utter shock.

"Vhat?" asked Kurt. "Vhat's wrong?"

Peter didn't answer right away. All he could do is stare at the guy pulling and groping the girl clearly against her will in both utter disgust, and bone-chilling fear. He remembers where he saw that guy before. But somehow, he wishes he never saw him. Two weeks ago, Peter was doing his routine swings around Bayville, New York, and sometimes New Jersey. While in Bayville, he heard a small scream...the kind of scream you would normally discard or just think it was a joke. Spider-Man doesn't take those kind of chances and investigates anyway. After a few minutes of searching, Spider-Man found that same guy sexually abusing a woman with his hand over her mouth muffling her "RYAN! STOP!" screams. Spider-Man did save the girl, but there were more people in the room. By the time the fight was over, the actual rapist got away.

"And here he is..." said Peter with a look of pure hatred in his face.

"Peter," began Kurt. "Vhat the hell is going on? Are you ok?"

"C'mon, baby," Peter could here Ryan say to Gwen. "I got something to show you."

This is it. He knew it. "I'll be right back," said Peter as he began to follow the couple. Peter could hear Kurt try to protest, but he didn't listen. He wasn't going to let this guy get away again. He followed them for a few minutes until they finally left the building and went into some kind of secluded alley.

"C'mon, Ryan," insisted Gwen. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," he assured her.

Peter then attached himself to the wall of the alley and slowly made his way closer to the happy couple. This place was utterly disgusting. Wet, smelly, and very dirty. "Ryan, what are we doing here?" asked Gwen. Just then, Ryan pressed his lips against Gwen. At first she tried to fight them off, but slowly began to go with it.

Peter watched in disgust still attached to the wall. Ryan uncomfortably deepened the kiss with Gwen seemingly every second. He then began to slid his hands down Gwen's backside quickly and rough. Peter saw the uncomfortableness in Gwen's face, but for some reason she kept going with it. Is it possible that she actually likes this? Just then, Ryan tried to undo the buttons on Gwen's mid-drift-revealing blouse. Finally, Gwen broke the kiss and stopped the jock from going any further.

"Whoa whoa whoa," she said. "Ryan, come on. Not right now?"

"What?" he spat out in protest. "What's wrong with now?"

This is it.

"Not here!" Gwen argued. "This place is filthy! Besides, we've only been going out for 2 weeks!"

"So what? I've done shit with girls when we've only been going out with one week!"

Moron.

"Ryan! I said no!"

Just then, Ryan grabbed Gwen grabbed the neck and squeezed tightly. "I don't care what you said!" He almost yelled as he threw Gwen to the ground.

Ok. This is the part where Peter takes action. He was about to take off his shirt when he realized...he didn't have his costume with him! Just then, Peter went into a panic. He didn;t have his costume! But he's still Spider-Man...but he can't use his powers without a mask.

Gwen began to scream, but Ryan quickly covered her mouth. "Don't worry, Gwenny," he said very menacingly as he unzipped Gwen's jeans and pulled them down to her knees, revealing her black thong underwear, and began to grope her buttocks. "It'll all be over soon." Now he began to undo his own pants.

Oh, screw it!

"Hey!" yelled Peter right after jumping form the wall to the floor.. Ryan suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked as If he had seen a ghost. Gwen was still trying resist, but his grip on her mouth began to weaken her. She wasn't fully aware of what was going on. "What the FUCK do you think your doing?" asked Peter face turning red because of anger. Ryan's face then turned angry with Gwen still in hand.

"Wait," began the rapist as he recognized Peter. "You the geek with Jake's homework assignment!" Jake must've been the guy who was snoring in class.

"Get you hands off her!" yelled Peter clinching his fists ignoring Ryan's realization.

Ryan laughed. "What the hell are you gonna do about it?" he asked completely tossing Gwen aside as hard as he could. He didn't knock her out, but she was way too hurt to move.

Peter tried to not let himself get too mad. He couldn't let Ryan know that he's Spider-Man, but beat the shit out of him at the same time....can he do it?

Ryan threw a punch at Peter who easily dodged it. Ryan tried to throw another punch, but Peter caught his fist and squeezed. Peter tried as hard as he can not to hurt him to bad, but at the same time, he wanted to see the son of a bitch in pain. Ryan let out a small moan in pain....but that wasn't enough for Peter.

He will never forget the look on the face of the girl this low-life raped some time ago. It was something he hoped he never had to see again. He squeezed harder and harder until he felt and heard a SNAP in Ryan's wrist. Now he let out a loud scream, and dropped top his knees after Peter let go and held his now broken hand. Peter began to approach Gwen to see if she was alright, but gave Ryan a swift kick in the face beforehand.

"Hey...hey..." Peter said softly as he approached the hurt girl. He got down on his knees and tried to sit her up. "Are you alright?" She didn't answer. She was still shaking. "Don't worry. He won't hurt you." Peter tried to comfort the girl by touching her shoulder. She cringed when he touched her, but began to find it relaxing. "It's ok," Peter kept assuring her as he pulled her closer for an embrace. She slowly came closer to Peter and hugged him softly.

Then suddenly, she tightened her grip on Peter and began to cry. "It's ok," Peter assured her one more time. Something was different. Peter has saved countless people before now.But now for unknown reasons, Peter feels an emotional connection this time. Is it the mask? Could Spider-Man be more than just an alias? "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. Your safe now." She continued to cry, and her sobs became deeper. "Your safe."


You don't recover from a night like this. A victim still lying on the floor but not completely motionless. She fakes a smile and presses herself onto me with thanks. I know that nothing that I tell her really has any effect. This was exactly what she was talking about. The fever. The focus. The reasons that I had to believe that what I do is right. The tickle. The taste of fairness. It used to be the reason I breathed but now it's choking me up. You were right, Rogue. You were right.

(A/N: This was unavoidable. PLEASE REVIEW I apologize too all of you Gwen haters!)