"That's pretty much it."
It was well into the night and Peter Parker had spent hours getting Gwen Stacy caught up to date on his life as Spider-Man. She now had a clear understanding of her boyfriend and the Jazz Club incident was also made more understandable as she now knew that he had been under the influence of an alien symbiote at the time.
They were snuggled up in her bed inside of her apartment and he was still in his Spider-Man outfit.
"That is a lot of information to take in," Gwen commented while staring at the Spider-Man mask resting on the night stand beside her bed. "So while you've been stressing about our relationship all this time, you've also been dealing with a literal man-sized Lizard and a Scorpion mutant?"
Peter was stroking her blond hair. "Yup. It's been a long week, to say the least."
Gwen sighed, "I should have been in the know long before this, Peter. That way you could have been venting all of these things to me. You cannot live your life dealing with these issues all by yourself."
"I've considered therapy," Peter joked. "I do kind of vent my frustrations though. I've spoken to a stone gargoyle statue about my problems at length. I named him Bruce."
Gwen chuckled. "That'd be something else you might need to tell a therapist about also."
Peter smiled. "I'm just glad you finally know the truth about me. That way you understand before you leave for Paris."
Gwen looked up at him in all seriousness. "You don't think I'd actually leave for Paris now, do you?"
"You can't throw away this opportunity, Gwen." Peter said. "I've been selfish and arrogant in the past. That's why MJ and I first started having our problems. I thought I wanted you to say no to going to Paris and to stay with me, but it was wrong of me to think like that. You are meant for more than this city. The world has a right to know who you are and the truth is...I really don't deserve you."
Gwen chuckled, "I'm just a model, Peter. You...you're a hero. In what world does a model deserve the love of a bona fide hero?"
Peter looked at her and gave her his most goofy smile. "You're wrong about yourself, Gwen Stacy."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"You're not just a model," Peter explained. "You're my hero. In the hours since I've revealed myself as Spider-Man to you, the weight of the world has been lifted off of my shoulders. Just simply telling you everything about me has put everything in perspective."
She was about to respond when her cellphone suddenly dinged. She looked at it and sighed.
"What is it?" Peter asked.
"Roderick just texted me and said I need to meet him at his office."
Peter nodded and got up out of the bed. He grabbed his mask from the night stand. "No matter what you decide, I feel I should at least divulge one thing to you."
"What's that?" Gwen asked.
"Roderick Kingsley is a complete creep and you shouldn't trust him." Peter explained.
Gwen smiled. "I was also starting to get that same vibe. He stroked my cheek earlier today and I still haven't managed to shake off the eerie chills that it gave me."
Peter smiled at hearing that and put the mask over his face.
"What are you gonna do?" Gwen asked.
Spider-Man thought a moment before speaking. "There is a good man out there held hostage by the machinations of a maniacal lizard. I'm going to try and rescue him. What are you gonna do?"
Gwen thought a moment before speaking. "I'm going to go meet Roderick and see what he wants. Then I'm going to tell him that Paris is too far away from the man that I love."
Spider-Man grabbed her hand and said, "Think carefully about that, Gwen. I don't want the day to come where you might resent me for feeling that you may have missed out on a career opportunity because of me."
Gwen smiled reassuringly, "I'd never resent you, Peter. A career without you by my side is not a career at all."
The Daily Bugle was still buzzing at the news of another Scorpion rampage, this time with a hostage. It became worse when the hostage was identified as J. Jonah Jameson. Robbie had been worried that this would happen, considering Jonah's involvement in Scorpion's creation. What could he do? He couldn't go to the police because they would most definitely ask questions about the connection between Scorpion and Jameson. Then they'd ask Robbie how he could actually know.
Robbie was running low on options except one; Spider-Man. But how would he contact him; it wasn't like there was some spider signal on the roof of the Bugle. He stepped out of the Editor's office, where Betty and Hoffman had their eyes literally glued to the monitor. They were also listening to the news broadcaster as she repeated what she'd been saying for the past five minutes.
"As of this moment, we have no information as to the motive of this high profile abduction. NYPD units are keeping their distance for fear of hitting the hostage who has been identified as Daily Bugle Chief Editor, J. Jonah Jameson."
Betty sighed with barely contained frustration. "Tell us something we don't already know."
"The Post must be having a field day with this." Hoffman joked rather unknowingly.
"Hoffman, The Post is being as professional about this as any other newspaper," Robbie said. "Betty, were you able to get in contact with Peter?"
"I've been trying to call Peter for the past hour and a half, but no luck." Betty replied matter-of-factly.
"What about Ned Leeds?"
Betty replied, "Ned's on his way to the Connors' residence to see if he can get some info from Mrs. Connors," She saw Robbie shake his head in frustration. "What should we do, Robbie?"
Robbie sighed, "All we can do for right now is pray that Jonah makes it out of this mess alive."
"Look, I just need a few more minutes of your time, Mrs. Connors." An ambitious Ned Leeds eagerly requested. "We can keep this strictly confidential."
"I'm going to tell you this for the last time," an exasperated Martha Connors repeated for the umpteenth time. "I have nothing to say about my husbands' whereabouts and even if I did, I wouldn't dare go to the press about it."
Ned persisted, unwilling to give up. "Please, just five more minutes. That's all I'm asking for."
"NO! Now leave me and my family alone or I swear I'll call the police." Martha had had more than enough of Ned Leeds' trespassing.
"But…" Ned tried but Martha Connors had slammed the door in his face. "That went well," he sighed to himself. A faint rumble sounded in the sky, accompanied by large storm clouds. "I guess I better get out of here before I get soaked."
Just as Ned was preparing to leave, a streak of lightning lit the sky and Ned seemed to spot something flying around. Another lightning strike lit the sky and this time, Ned saw the unmistakable image of Spider-Man approaching. The web slinger rounded the area and as quickly and as mysteriously as he had appeared, he disappeared into an alley.
Why was Spider-Man here in the first place, Ned wondered intently. He decided he wasn't going to pass up this chance to get a major league scoop, so he went down the same alley that Spider-Man disappeared into.
No sooner had Ned vanished that a nearby manhole cover was pried open from below. Two menacing red eyes peered out into the street just as it started pouring rain. The Lizard climbed out of the manhole, moving unseen into the very same alley that Spider-Man and Ned Leeds had entered.
Martha Connors was, for lack of a better term, an emotional wreck. Since that fateful evening that her husband had come home looking like he did, she had been having nightmares. Granted, she did her best to mask the worry in her eyes from young Billy Connors, trying to stay strong for her son's sake and it had worked, to a point at least. Ironically, Billy remained unusually calm, perhaps holding some faith that his father would come back home. Martha had to admire that, even though she was supposed to be the one to be strong. The spat with Ned Leeds just moments ago had only exasperated the situation further. Only the appearance of Billy was enough to calm her nerves.
"Mommy, when do you think daddy will come home?"
Martha knelt down beside her son, trying to keep herself from crying. "I don't know, honey. We'll just have to wait and see if he does come home."
"But I miss him, mommy."
"So do I but we need to be strong for him," Martha encouraged. "We'll see him and we'll be a family again. I promise!"
Billy tried to smile even just a little bit and then his eyes lit up. "Mommy, it's him, he's here!"
"Who, Billy," a confused Martha wondered. "Is it daddy?"
"No, it's him!" Billy said again, pointing past Martha's face.
Martha turned around startled and quickly pulled Billy close to her. It wasn't Connors but rather Spider-Man, descending from the ceiling upside down. "Get away!"
"Yep, I get that reaction a lot!" Spider-Man managed to still wisecrack at this bizarre moment.
"Stay away from us!" Martha shouted, cradling Billy tightly. Spider-Man righted himself and tried to approach mother and son but Martha was hysterical. "Leave us alone!"
"Mrs. Connors, I'm not here to cause any trouble," Spider-Man assured. "I'm just looking for Dr. Connors. I need to know if he has tried to contact you recently."
"I don't know where he is, I swear," Martha replied, still hysterical. "I haven't seen Curt since…" Martha suddenly stammered and Spider-Man knew where this information was going.
"He's been here, hasn't he? When was the last time you saw him... like that?"
"About a week or so ago," Martha replied. "Curt had called me beforehand about staying late at the University but he wouldn't say why."
I have a pretty good idea! Peter thought behind his mask.
Martha was now glaring at the web slinger with almost accusing eyes. "What're you going to do him?"
Spider-Man was about to answer but the words wouldn't come out. After a few moments, he finally replied, "I don't know. If I can't save him…"
"You're going to kill him, aren't you?" Martha accused Spider-Man, who was speechless at that point. Billy suddenly broke loose and approached Spider-Man.
"You can save him, right Spider-Man," he asked. "I know my dad's still in there. You've gotta save him."
What could Spider-Man say now? For what it was worth, Peter Parker had felt the same way after Uncle Ben had died. Harry Osborn probably felt the same way too after the loss of Norman Osborn.
Spider-Man knelt down to Billy's eye level and was about to answer when his spider-sense went off the scale. A scream of terror was heard from outside the house in the storm, to which Spider-Man bounded out. He spotted a storm drenched Ned Leeds trying to crawl backward from the Lizard. Ned was trying to get away but the muddy ground made the attempt nearly impossible. The Lizard skulked closer to his prey until he was right on top of him and prepared to strike, but he was stopped by a thick thread of webbing from Spider-Man.
"Whoa, netted me a big one!"
The Lizard let out a hiss of anger before pulling hard on the web line, pulling Spider-Man along with it. He quickly dodged a Lizard claw swipe, using his foe as a platform to leap away to a near wall. The Lizard picked up a nearby bicycle and heaved it directly at the web slinger, who again leaped away and dodged the makeshift weapon.
Spider-Man fired a series of web lines, bounding the Lizard's arms to his body and muzzling his snout shut. After that, the web slinger landed front and center and tackled the Lizard to the mud. Spider-Man attempted to communicate with the monster, to try and reach the human scientist trapped within. The Lizard would have none of that, breaking the webbing restraints and wrestling Spider-Man to the ground.
The Lizard swiped at Spider-Man's head but only grasped mud and grass, after which Spider-Man put his feet against the Lizard's chest and monkey flipped up and over. The Lizard flew through the air and heavy rain before slamming into a wall, mere feet away from Martha and Billy. The Lizard started to get back up and snarled at Spider-Man. He was about to rush back in for more but the voice of his son, Curt Connors' son, stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Daddy, please stop it! Spider-Man just wants to help you."
The Lizard slowly inched his way to the mother and son, holding out a scaly hand. He uttered one grotesque, but heartfelt word; "Billy!"
The Curt Connors still inside the beast reached for his son until a thunderclap startled everyone, and the Lizard hissed before vanishing again into the shadows.
Spider-Man, his costume dirty from the mud, approached Martha Connors. "Well that uh, that went well!" he managed to quip.
"Please, Spider-Man," Martha pleaded. "You've got to bring my husband, Billy's father, back. Please!"
"I'll do the best I can, Mrs. Connors," Spider-Man said, his determination slowly coming back. "You have my word." A rustling in the bushes startled the three. "We're not alone! Stay here!"
Spider-Man fired a web line and swung to the source of the noise before spotting somebody running out down the alley. "Leeds!"
Ned Leeds was literally sprinting out of the alley into the street. He now knew the truth about the Lizard. "I can't believe it; that Lizard thing is Curt Connors. When I print this story, it's gonna be Pulitzer time."
As soon as Ned uttered those words, he was suddenly yanked up into the air. Ned found himself anchored to a street light via web line and Spider-Man was crouched on top of the post. "Relax, Leeds! That webbing will dissolve in an hour or so."
"You can't do this, Spider-Man," Ned protested, trying to get loose. "This isn't fair."
"I already have!" Spider-Man retorted.
"C'mon, you'd do the same thing were you in my position."
"That's where you're wrong, Leeds," Spider-Man retorted again in a serious tone. "I wouldn't jeopardize another person's life for personal glory, and I'm not going to let you ruin Connors' life."
The web slinger reached into Ned's jacket pocket and pulled out a note pad. Inside of it was details relating to the Lizard and Dr. Connors' family. Ned became frantic and tried to retrieve the note pad. "Hey, give that back!"
"Don't worry, Leeds! I'm not really stealing this," Spider-Man quipped. "Think of it as more like borrowing." The hero's spider-sense went off, followed by a scream from the Connors' house.
Spider-Man swung off and left Ned Leeds hanging, more or less. "Are you going to come back?"
Spider-Man returned to the backyard of the house, finding Billy sobbing in the doorway. "Billy, what happened? Where's your mother?"
"Daddy came back and took her away," Billy said, trying and failing to keep from crying. He then pointed toward the center of the street to an uncovered manhole. "They went down that hole."
Spider-Man knelt beside Billy and told him, "Okay, I'm going to bring you to a neighbors' house and then I'm going after your parents."
"You'll bring them back right?" Billy asked.
Spider-Man was reluctant to say anything but quietly responded, "Yeah!"
If the Lizard still had a human heart, it must've been aching with him knowing what he was doing. He had just abducted his, Connors' wife, right in front of his own son and carried her down into the sewers. Martha Connors was still coherent for the moment. She was draped over the shoulders of her abductor, her own husband in a reptilian form. Martha pounded the Lizard's scaly hide, kicking her legs every which way trying to get free. None of that worked, so Martha tried talking, hoping to reach Curt if he was still in there, trapped.
"Curt, please let me go," she pleaded. "Where are you taking me?"
"Hush, Martha," the Lizard replied. "Everything will be alright. I am going make everything better."
Martha was still confused as to everything that was happening. "I don't understand!"
"You will soon. I promise."
The Lizard continued on down a dark tunnel with Martha Connors in tow. Where they were headed, only time would possibly tell.