After all the villains he'd battled against and having barely managed to survive, it never occurred to Peter that maybe, just maybe, there was someone new who was waiting in the winds. Of course, that notion went right out the door thanks to his spider sense.

Peter always knew the type of danger that was coming by the frequency of the tingle. The 360 degree vision helped out well too; it showed that some guy in a dark green jacket and cap was following him. It was probably some strapped for cash mugger looking to rob him. He was being careful to keep a good distance from Peter and had he not noticed, Peter would've been in trouble. But Peter Parker was no ordinary guy by any stretch of the imagination; too bad this guy didn't know that.

This guy must be a glutton for punishment, Peter thought. I guess I'd better accommodate him.

Peter rounded the corner into an alleyway, out of sight of anyone who might catch a glimpse of him changing into his costume.

The stranger slowly but surely picked up the pace so as to catch up to his quarry. As soon as he rounded the corner, the stranger was left confused by the sudden vanishing of Peter. He entered further into the alleyway, surmising that Peter might've dashed toward the other end of the path.

As he went in further, the stranger was suddenly swept off of his feet and pulled upwards. Within seconds, the stranger found himself hanging upside down, staring into the eyes, so to speak, of Spider-Man. The man he'd caught was fairly unremarkable; balding blonde hair, slightly overweight and middle-aged, at least in his mid forties.

"You should know it's not very nice to be stalking people," he said. "Why are you following Parker?"

"I wasn't following anybody, I swear," the man pleaded, clearly lying through his teeth. "I was just minding my own business, just walking into this alley."

Spider-Man wasn't close to amused as he pulled the man closer. Okay, maybe he was a little amused. "You are aware that you're hanging upside down from about fifteen stories, right? It's not exactly a great idea to lie while you're in this position."

"Please stop," The man begged. Spider-Man lowered him just slightly, causing the man to scream out, "Alright, I was following Parker. I was hired to find out how he got the shots of you."

"Whose your boss?" Spider-Man asked.

"I can't tell you that," the man said. "My boss would kill me."

"If you think that I won't kill you," Spider-Man told the man before suddenly lowering him toward the ground. He was stopped just inches from the ground before being dropped hard. "You're right."

The hapless stranger, sweating and utterly humiliated, stared straight up and realized that the web slinger was long gone. His face became contorted with anger and embarrassment and he was cursing under his breath.

Meanwhile, Peter had just landed onto the roof of his apartment building, removing his mask but also making certain nobody could see him. Stealing wasn't really his thing but in the case of an unscrupulous person stalking him, Peter made an exception. In his hand was the identification card of the guy; it currently revealed some interesting about him.

Mac Gargan, huh, thought Peter. A Private Investigator for the Daily Bugle; I didn't know anything about this guy. But I know someone who would.

The hollowed halls of Columbia University were as silent, some would say spooky, as a graveyard. Most teachers, instructors and student would have gone home for the evening; all except Dr. Connors. He'd been in his office/lab since the afternoon hours when Peter had been there to assist in his experiment. Connors had moments ago spoken to his wife, telling her that he'd be working late at the university. He never told her the reason as to why, only that it was important. Connors had been busy setting up a video camera facing toward his desk, where the familiar plastic injection pistol laid with a cartridge full of the faint green liquid he'd used on the mouse earlier. Connors looked over at the camera, where a red light illuminated.

"This is Dr. Curtis Connors of Columbia University; the current time is 8:47 PM," Connors walked around his desk, sitting down so he was facing the camera. "After several adjustments and a successful field test on one of my lab mice, the regeneration serum is finally ready to be tested on humans; and who better to be tested on than myself?" Connors rubbed the stump that was once his right arm. "I know there are risks involved but I can't allow a twist of fate to undo the natural order of things when science can correct it." Connors held an envelop in front of the camera. "Should the unthinkable happen, please see that my family receives this letter."

Dr. Connors picked up the pistol with the dripping needle pointed toward the ending point of the stump. The needle penetrated through the skin, and Dr. Connors pulled the trigger. He felt a slightly stronger sting than he'd anticipated, as well as the serum beginning to course through his veins.

After that, Connors waited for any kind of changes when he seemed to find it hard to breathe. Connors clutched his chest in near crippling pain, convulsing violently and finally backhanding the pistol right into the camera. It never caught the next several images after that; only the screaming voice of Dr. Curtis Connors. A voice that seemed to change in pinch and sound, from human to almost monstrous.

The following afternoon brought yet another chaotic situation to the always chaotic Daily Bugle. Obviously, that was nothing new to Peter Parker as he entered the main staff room, just not with any new photos of Spider-Man. Peter was there for other reasons concerning the guy he'd roughed up the night before. Maybe not roughed up but thoroughly spooked. Whoever he was, Peter knew only one person who would know. That didn't stop him though from stopping at the desk of Betty Brant. Maybe she might know something about this Mac Gargan guy.

"Hey Betty; do you know anything about a Mac Gargan working here?"

"I don't know much about it, Pete," Betty said. "Only that Mr. Jameson hired him about a week or so ago. You should ask him about it. Speaking of which…"

Before Betty could finish, Mr. Jameson burst out of his office. "Parker, get in my office, pronto!"

Betty shook her head in amusement. "Uh, what he said!"

Peter hurriedly entered Jameson's office, half-expecting to be fired for the umpteenth time. "Is there a problem, Mr. Jameson?"

"You're damn right there's a problem, Parker," Jameson bellowed. "There's rumors flying around about some giant reptile running amok at Columbia University. People are seeing something and I want photos. Columbia is your school isn't it?"

Robbie Robertson interjected himself into the conversation. "Peter, we've got another guy down at the school right out; a staff journalist named Ned Leeds. Maybe you two can work together."

"I'll see what I can do, Robbie." Peter said agreeably.

"Don't stand there talking about it, Peter," Jameson snapped. "At least get me some photos of the aftermath."

Peter left the office, heading on his way toward the elevator. Giant reptiles now? Peter shook his head in disbelief.

Clearly, Jameson wasn't paying him enough for the photos. Then again, the rumors of a large, reptilian creature would've explained why classes were cancelled. Peter's thoughts returned to the work Dr. Connors had been conducting the night before, but that had to be a coincidence. At least Peter hoped it was.

As he entered the nearest elevator and pushed a button, Peter glanced out of the closing doors. There was that man, Mac Gargan passing by him at a hurried pace with a scowl on his face. Thanks goodness Peter was alone in the elevator, for he quickly scurried onto the roof, rapidly changing into his costume. No way in hell was he going to miss this.

Mac Gargan literally barged into Jameson's office, despite Betty's attempt to stop him. He took a forced seat on the chair in front of the desk, earning a scowl from Jameson. "Don't people ever knock anymore?"

"Cut the crap, Jameson," Gargan snapped. "You have no idea what I went through."

"Well please Gargan, enlighten me," Jameson snapped back. "Did you find out how the kid's able to get the photos of Spider-Man?"

"I didn't have a chance to; Spider-Man caught me," Gargan said. "He left me hanging, literally by a thread. He made a fool out of me."

"That wasn't necessarily a hard thing to do, you know." Said an unknown voice from nowhere.

Jameson and Gargan looked around the office for the source of the voice when a whole mass of webbing attacked the latter. More of the sticky substance assaulted Gargan, throwing him up against the far wall and embedding him there. Jameson looked toward the ceiling, the source of the webbing and sure enough, Spider-Man was there looking down at Jameson.

"What's up, J.J?" he asked with such an air of confidence. "I just thought I'd swing by and say hello." Spider-Man looked toward Mac Gargan, who was still stuck to the wall. "Hi, loser."

"What the hell are you doing here," Jameson demanded. "You have no right to invade my building, not after what you and the Green Goblin did last time."

"Take a chill pill, flattop," said the web-slinger. "I'm hear regarding your freelance guy, Parker."

"What about him?" Jameson asked. "I know you two are in cahoots."

"That's what you think; actually, Parker and I aren't buddies. His photos have been making me look bad and the editorials aren't helping," Spider-Man said, which seemed odd that he would talk trash about himself. He web-sculpted a crude looking stack of webbing on Jameson's desk. "So you give him a message for me; if Parker doesn't get off my back," Spider-Man leapt from the ceiling and right onto the stack of webbing, crushing it. "I'm going to do that to the kid, and that's if I'm in a good mood."

As Spider-Man retreated back through the ceiling window, an enraged Mac Gargan spat out, "You arrogant bug. You think you can get away with this?" Gargan got some more webbing stuck to his mouth."

"You should try a new line of work, Gargan," said Spider-Man. "See you in the funny pages."

Before Jameson could react any further, Spider-Man was already long gone. Mac Gargan struggled to get free but his efforts proved futile.

Meanwhile, Peter slid back into his civilian attire and made it to his scooter without a hitch. His little performance in Jameson's office was sure to throw him and Gargan off the trail, at least for the time being. Revving up the motor, Peter rode down the busy street toward his eventual destination.

Back in the Bugle building, Jameson was fuming while Gargan finally got loose from the wall. He fell flat on his face, something which barely even amused Jameson.

"That damn spider," Gargan said grinding his teeth. "Making me look like a fool. I'd give anything to get back at him. Anything to kill him!"

Jameson, for once, seemed to agree with Gargan. "I think a have an idea, Gargan. That's provided that you're willing to do whatever it takes."

Gargan nodded in the affirmative "I'll try anything, Jameson; so long as the money's good."

The NYPD was all around the school for reasons unknown to the public. There were numerous medical vehicles on the campus, and several police officers tying the yellow "DO NOT CROSS" tape around a large hole in the wall. The hole led directly into the office/lab of Dr. Connors, who was nowhere to be found. Captain George Stacy was busy directing his officers and/or speaking to one of the forensics experts when a young man approached him. He was in his mid twenties at best, sported blonde hair and wore a jean jacket with a Daily Bugle ID card attached to it.

"Excuse me, Captain Stacy," he said. "I'm Ned Leeds with the Daily Bugle. I'd like to get your thoughts on this incident at Columbia University."

"I don't have the time or patience to comment right now, son." said the captain.

"Sir, what about the rumors going around that a giant lizard may have been the cause of the incident? What about the bizarre disappearance of one of the scientists, Dr. Curtis Connors? What about that? Captain Stacy!"

Captain Stacy turned quickly to face this aggravating young man. "There isn't any proof whatsoever that a giant lizard was involved, nor that one even exists. As for Dr. Connors, we have no information on his whereabouts. Now if you'll excuse me, son…"

Captain Stacy walked backed to the crime scene, while Leeds said to himself, "You'd think this was done by the alligators in the sewers."

As he spoke aloud, Ned turned to spot another guy riding in on a run down scooter. This guy was no older than Ned himself, as he sported a photo lens camera and ID card in his own right. It was Peter Parker who strode over toward Ned Leeds as they both glanced toward the scene.

"What happened, here?" Peter asked.

"I have no idea," Ned answered. "I just finished joking about the alligators in the sewers." Peter seemed to laugh it off. "Hey, you're Peter Parker, right?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"I'm Ned Leeds, journalism. I just started at the Bugle last month."

"Now I remember," Peter said. "I've read one of your articles on a so-called cure for people with special gifts. It was a pretty good article."

"Thanks; I've seen your photos of Spider-Man in action," Ned said. "How do you get those angles? Nobody's that good."

"Treasured trade secret," Peter said. "So, did you find out anything about this?"

"Only that the cops are being pretty tight-lipped about it," answered Ned. "What is confirmed is that a scientist here, Dr. Curt Connors, went missing," Ned noticed Peter's expression change to a worried one. "I'm going out on a limb here; you knew Dr. Connors."

"Dr. Connors was my Physics professor; he still is," Peter told Ned. "If something's happened to him," Peter noticeably stalled in his words. "I better try to snap some shots."

Meanwhile, one of the forensics experts called on Captain Stacy. "What do you got for me, Donnelly," The expert used a pair of tweezers to pick up a very unusual object. "What is this?"

"I'm not entirely sure, sir," Donnelly answered. "From what I can tell with the naked eye, it appears to be some kind of skin. Not unlike a snake or lizard or any kind of reptilian creature."

"I want this area sealed off to the public," Captain Stacy sighed and thought, Here we go again. Yet another freak to contend with. He ordered the forensic man named Donnelly, "Nobody gets in here without clearance."

Everyone at the scene continued with their individual assignments, unaware that they were being watched from far away. There was movement within a dark alleyway; something bipedal but seemingly far from human. A large creature resembling a lizard wearing a torn lab coat was skulking in the shadows. An ID card dangled from the coat; it belonged to Dr. Curt Connors. Connors checked a puddle of water for his reflection, hoping he'd see his normal face. Instead he saw the Lizard monster staring back at him, that hideous, scaly green skinned face with those red reptilian eyes.

Connors held his hands in front of his face, the cold realization sinking in; his experimentation on himself had backfired. "What hassssssssssss happened to me!?"

Within the household of the Connors family, Martha Connors watched the news telecast. The newscaster gave a run down of the current situation up to what Martha didn't wish to believe. "The police still have no leads on the whereabouts of Columbia University teacher Curtis Connors and so far, no arrests have been made."

"Curt, where are you?" Martha whispered to herself.

As she watched on, eight year old Billy Connors walked toward his worried mother. "Mommy, is Daddy coming home soon?"

What in the world could Martha tell her son? What could she say to ease their grief? She knelt down in front of Billy and told him. "I'm hoping your father will come home, Billy. I swear he'll be back."

Almost as soon as she spoke those words, a voice spoke her name, "Martha."

It didn't sound human. Martha turned and she saw the Lizard creature entering through a window. She quickly pulled Billy away from the creature, which was slowly approaching them. It's long tail was whipping to and fro, knocking down all sorts of furniture. "Wait, it'sssssssssss me, Curt! Don't you recognize me?

"GET AWAY FROM US, YOU MONSTER!" Martha screamed. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY HUSBAND!?"

"I am your husband," the Lizard said. "I am Billy's father." The former Dr. Connors saw his own son crying in his mother's arms and realized he was doing more harm than good. Connors backed away from them, and as he started climbing back out the way he came, he said, "I'm sssssso ssssssssorry." Then, as quickly as he came, the Lizard was gone.

Martha held her son closely and tightly, as little Billy whispered to his mother, "I want my daddy."

"I do too, honey," Martha whispered back. "God, save him."