TSSM S03E03: Green

Disclaimer: I do not own The Spectacular Spider-man or its characters or any other characters owned by Marvel or Sony. Copyright infringement not intended. The rights of Spider-man and related characters belong to Marvel and Sony.

"Prisoner 0182." Mark stepped forward and sat down as he stared at the gorgeous red-head who sat on the opposite side, separated by a sheet of glass.

"Hey MJ, I really hate to break it to you but I have to do this." Mark solemnly told her over the phone as he looked into her eyes.

"What isit Mark?" Mary Jane inquired with a tinge of worry in her voice.

"You have to let me go."

"What? No don't do this Mark, we can get through this, I- "

"Stop it MJ. Don't try. I was the one who started this. I chased after you, you agreed to go out with me. Yet I still brought my gambling problems along." Mark continued.

"We can work this out Mark, it may take some time but I can help you get through with it. You just need time." Mary Jane pleaded.

"Time? Well there was six months in Juvie and I still went back to my old ways not long after that. Now I'm in prison. Don't cling on to me Mary Jane, look for someone else. These feelings may make me feel like I'm the only one you can be with, but really, I'm not." Mark bluntly stated.

"No Mark please! We can- "

"There is no we anymore." Mark coldly stated as he turned his back, walking away and not even giving a second look at his now ex-girlfriend. Inside, he was hurting. A lot. But it hurt him even more to see the look on the faces of his family and loved ones whenever they learned of his misdeeds. As if hurting his sister was not enough, Mark had dragged Mary Jane, a kind-hearted, new girl in school into the messy pit he was struggling to climb out of. Had she continued to be with him after all this, Mark could not imagine how much of her life he could ruin with his, that had been intertwined with crime and addiction. Small tears welled up in the corner of his eyes.

Mary Jane sat there dazed, as she looked on to Mark forlornly.

"Alright kid, you'll get a good pay-check by the end of this month if you keep up the good work. Now if you're not out of my office in 5.25 seconds, YOU'RE FIRED!" Yelled the loud, obnoxious J Jonah Jameson. Most employees would have trembled in fear at the sound of those last two words. However, as it was the infamous J Jonah Jameson, there would have been lesser reason to worry. Unless you were actually getting fired of course.

"I guess everything's alright at the Bugle." Peter thought as he took the lift to the ground floor. He whipped out his phone and checked his texts, hoping to see a change, only to be met with disappointment.

"Gwen still hasn't replied my texts, and it's almost been days! Tried to talk to her today but she avoided me in school. Must have been something to do with Harry." Peter woefully thought.

"Well, we confessed to each other and I haven't done anything to make her mad lately, so things should be fine between us. Perhaps I just needed some assurance." Peter wondered.

"Just my usual Parker luck I guess. Your best friend ends up with the girl you love." Peter sighed as he headed underground to take the subway.

On that afternoon, Peter Parker was expecting to spend the rest of the day alone, not counting his Aunt May. But he was not alone. As he in front of train doors, he caught sight of a familiar red-head.

"MJ!"

"Tiger!"

The two sat side-by-side as they the train home together.

"So, how's your day been MJ?" Peter asked.

"Not too fantastic I guess tiger." MJ sighed

"What happened?" Peter inquired.

"It's Mark. We broke up." She replied as she looked down forlornly.

"Oh, I see." Peter nodded understandingly.

"How was your day tiger?"

"I guess everything was fine except at school…" Peter muttered.

"Hey speaking of school, I haven't seen you and Gwen together for a while. What happened? I thought you two were finally gonna be together?" MJ asked.

"Yeah...Well something rather unfortunate happened to Harry's father right before Gwen was gonna break up with Harry. After he lost his father, she was afraid that Harry was gonna lose it if he lost her too." Peter explained.

"Oh." MJ absorbed the load of information as a moment of silence followed.

"Well she could still talk to you, you're still her friend." MJ attempted to comfort Peter.

"That's the thing! She's been avoiding me for some unknown reason!" Peter vented out.

"Rest assured tiger, I'll go talk to her." MJ patted his shoulder.

"Well thanks MJ, I've had less people to talk to ever since I broke up with Liz and the whole awkward thing between me, Harry and Gwen, I've had less people to talk to in school." Peter gratefully said to the red-head.

Just then, the train doors opened to reveal a familiar-looking blond jock with an Asian brunette by his side.

"Hey Parker!" Flash waved.

"Wow someone I least expected showed up." Peter thought to himself, amused at the unexpected arrival of the jock.

"Mind if I take a seat next to you?" Flash asked in a surprisingly non-threatening way.

"Sure Flash." Peter replied

It was a little weird for Peter to have Flash sit beside him on the train. However, he could sense some maturity in the tone of his voice. Perhaps it was because of Sha Shan Nguyen.

"Yo Parker, by the way I'm hosting a party a week from now. Would you like to come?" Flash asked.

"Woah! You- You're actually asking me to come on your own accord? Well sure bro." Peter accepted his offer, surprised that Flash was actually asking him to hang out with him."

"Well sure man! After all," Flash then whispered into his ear. "You were my wingman."

"Oh." Peter answered, not knowing how to feel.

Flash took a deep breath and continued. "Y'know Parker, I've always kinda been a huge jerk to you all these years. Sorry bout that."

Peter was shocked. Never did he expect the prideful Flash to utter those words. At least not in High school.

"No problem Flash." Peter replied.

"So we cool?'

"Yea! We cool!"

"Well great man! Here have an invitation. You too MJ!" Flash said as he handed out invitation cards to Peter and MJ.

"Ah, for me." MJ replied in her usual foxxy voice.

The four High schoolers laughed as they continued talking and having a merry-time.

While this was not the company Peter was asking for, nor the company he expected, he was grateful for it nonetheless.

Just then, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Peter whipped it out, hoping to see a text from Gwen. But it wasn't. It was from Robbie Robertson. "Ah so I gotta go off again." Peter thought.

But it was the actual message that caught Peter's attention. His eyes widened with shock. Peter almost yelled in the train but managed to stop himself. The message read. "Come to Central Park. There's a weird Lizard monster looking for Spider-man."

A thousand thoughts raced through his mind. "What?! Connors turned into the Lizard again? I thought he moved to Florida? But who else could it be? No time to think. Gotta act." Peter thought to himself.

"Oh! I just remembered that I have something on. Bye!" Peter said as he waved goodbye to his friends and alighted at the next station.

"Oh, sure. Bye!"

"Bye Tiger, nice talking to you!"

Peter's friends responded to his sudden and unexpected departure with slight puzzlement.

"Thwip!" "What did Connors do to himself again this time?" Peter thought as he swung his way to Central Park

As he neared the area, he caught a glimpse of a green, goblin-looking creature from the corner of his eye.

Peter stopped and turned back to look, only to realise that there was nothing there. "Guess I was just imagining things, Peter thought as he continued to make his way to Central Park. There was no time to waste when a monster lizard was on the loose.

After a few minutes of swinging, Peter finally reached Central Park. He saw crowds panicking and fleeing and caught sight of the Lizard making a ruckus and throwing some park benches around. The Lizard looked a little different this time. He now had a frilled neck. "SSSSPIDER-MAN!" The monster shouted out as he continued looking around.

"Did someone call my name?" Spidey replied as he swung in and kicked the reptilian straight in the jaw. "I see you've changed your look a little. Nice collar Lizzie."

The Lizard lunged violently at Spidey, who barely managed to hold back his deadly talons.

"Hey! That was a compliment!" Peter shouted after narrowly squeezing out of the Lizard's deadly grasp.

There was something about the Lizard that made him a particularly dangerous foe. It wasn't his strength. Rhino had him beat there. Nor was it his intelligence. It was his unbridled, pure ferocity that made him a deadly foe. He was an animal that could not be reasoned with. The way he moved was like an animal too. Unlike Spidey, the Lizard does not have the slightest intention of holding back and his razor-sharp talons did not make it any better. While Spidey fought to disable or knockout, the Lizard fought to rip and tear. The Lizard also had incredible regeneration too. He was basically the Hulk in Spidey's world, albeit much weaker.

"Hey do you know how much these suits cost?!" Peter yelled as the Lizard slashed him across the chest, leaving 3 bloody scratch marks.

"SSSSSSPIDER-MANNN!" the Lizard spoke as his snake tongue whipped the air in front of him.

"Well congrats on learning how to speak but you still gotta expand your vocabulary." Peter joked as he leapt out of the Lizard's way.

Those talons were no joke. Peter shot two strands and webbed up the deadly claws together, only to be violently smacked by the reptile's incredibly muscular tail, sending him flying into a tree.

Spidey got up, webbed onto the Lizard and swung him around, smashing him into a large tree. The impact was so great, the tree toppled, leaving a huge stump.

Dazed but not seriously hurt, the Lizard picked up the fallen tree and swung it at Spidey like a baseball bat. The Lizard looked up, expecting to see the hero flying but he was gone.

Peter leapt down from the branches of the tree and kicked the Lizard on the top of his head. The enraged Lizard tried to swipe at the pesky vigilante but missed as he hopped away.

Peter continued his assault by swinging a park bench at him with his webs but the reptilian speedily crouched to dodge the attack and lunged for Spider-man.

"Uh oh."

The two animal-themed superhumans crashed into a water fountain in the now empty park.

"No bite!" Spidey yelped as the Lizard tried to chomp mouthfuls out of Peter.

Spidey webbed on to the Lizard's head and did a flip kick onto the Lizard, who was barely fazed and proceeded to grab Peter by the leg and toss him away with all his strength.

Peter flew a great distance and crashed into the side of a car parked at the edge of the Park

"Urgh, my head hurts." Peter stood up as he got off the dented vehicle. But there was no moment to rest as his spider-sense tingled once again.

The Lizard was relentless. It charged at Peter at full speed, talons first, eager to sink into the young vigilante.

Peter quickly flipped onto the roof of the car a split second before the monster crashed into it, pushing it over.

They were now on a road with only stationary parked vehicles as the drivers were avoiding Central Park due to the Lizard's rampage.

"C'mon doc, don't do this. I know you're in there!" Peter pleaded, hoping to get Connors to regain control of the Lizard.

But this had no effect on the Lizard, who threw another slash at Spidey.

Peter tried to dodge the attack, which still managed to wound his shoulder.

"Ah! Not good." Peter jumped back from his adversary, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

"SSSSPIDER-MANNN HURT USSS!" The Lizard hissed.

"Ok I admit that I've hit you quite a number of times Lizzie but cmon, who looks like he needs a hospital more?" Peter protested before once again needing to dodge another of the Lizard's vicious attacks.

Peter attached a web to the reptilian and swung him around, smashing him into a truck.

The Lizard bellowed with rage and rushed at Spidey, who ran up the wall of a nearby building.

The Lizard continued to chase Peter up the wall.

The two continued punching and slashing at each other while they traversed the walls of the building.

Just then, Peter spotted a parked truck with the name "Ice King" on it. Peter guessed that it was carrying ice. "I guess that's my only chance at beating this guy." Peter thought as he webbed off towards the vehicle. The Lizard gave chase to the wall-crawler.

Peter forced open the truck doors and indeed, there was ice in it. "Now, as long as I can trap him inside and there isn't a strange crown with three red gems on it, everything should be fine." Spidey thought, seconds before he was tackled by the Lizard, sending them crashing into another parked truck.

"Bad Lizard!" Spidey said as he webbed up the Lizard's eyes and snout.

The reptile stumbled and hissed with rage as it tore off the webbing. It got the webbing off and saw Peter standing in front of the opening of the Ice truck.

Giving in to its primal rage and instincts, the humanoid reptile burst forth to catch the pesky web-head.

Just before the Lizard could sink its claws into him, Spidey leapt over its head and somersaulted, kicking the Lizard into the truck. Under normal circumstances, Peter would have congratulated himself for such perfect timing. But this was the Lizard. Before he could recover, Peter wasted no time in sealing the doors with webbing. He then lifted the truck overhead and spun it around, hoping to disorientate the Lizard. Peter did not want to give him any chances of breaking out.

After spinning it for a while, Peter's arms began to tire. He attached a web to the truck and swung it around him with all his might, like an athlete doing a hammer throw, before leaping into the air, carrying the massive truck with his webs.

"Sorry doc, but this'll hurt." Peter said right before he yanked the ice truck overhead, sending it crashing with a loud "BOOOOM!" As a spectacular explosion of fire and ice burst forth.

The Lizard got up from the mess and staggered. It's head hurt from the dizziness of getting spun and swung around, as well as the impact of the explosion. The cold ice had slowed down its body functions as the sudden mix of cold ice and hot fire also confused it.

But Peter knew that it was only a matter of time before the beast regained its senses and continued to rampage. Attaching two strings of webbing to the ground near the Lizard, Peter stretched it as he ran backwards, stretching it as hard as he could and catapulted himself forward. He flew like a bullet, kicking the Lizard square in the chest and sending him flying into a huge truck. Peter then unleashed a furious barrage of blows on the reptile, aiming for the chin and sides of his head.

Finally, the Lizard trembled and slumped to the ground before Peter. Peter fell to his knees , panting as he looked around at all the destruction. He was bleeding from nasty gashes on his chest and shoulder, pulled several muscles and had acquired several bruises over the course of the battle.

Suddenly, Peter felt his phone rang. To his surprise, it was Gwen! He also had 17 missed calls from her.

"Hey Gwen."

"Peter! Oh finally. I've been trying to reach you! Did you see the news? What happened to Connors? What's going on? I've been trying to reach the Connors but they're not responding! What are we gonna do about it?" A panicking Gwen shouted over the phone.

"Don't worry Gwen, everything's alright. Spider-man's taken care of him. I'll meet you at the ESU lab. We'll get the gene cleanser working on doc and he'll be back to normal. Meanwhile, prepare a ton of tranquilizers" Peter assured.

"Okay. See you there. Stay safe." Gwen said

"Yeah, you too. Bye!" Peter answered as he hung up.

Peter looked down at the unconscious Lizard. "Ok time to get you home doc."

Gwen bit her lip as she waited nervously. Connors was supposed to be in Florida but here he was, wreaking havoc as the Lizard.

"BAM!" The lab doors were kicked open. Gwen jumped at the sound of it but was relieved to see Spider-man holding an unconscious Lizard.

"Spider-man!"

"Here, jab him with several doses of tranquilizers in case he wakes up." Spidey said as he laid the humanoid reptile on the floor.

The Lizard was bound in layers upon layers of webbing, along with a metal bar Spidey bent around him just for good measure.

"Sorry for the trouble." Gwen apologised as she looked at Spidey's evident battle wounds.

"It's ok. Take care of doc, gotta go!" Spidey said as he turned around and prepared to leave.

"Wait! Before you go, can I ask you something?" Gwen cried.

"What isit miss?" Spidey asked.

"Did you really kill Norman Osborn?" She asked with uncertainty.

"I didn't mean to." Peter replied solemnly, before promptly leaving the building.

Gwen believed that Spider-man was a genuine hero. Given the number of times he has saved her and her father's high opinion of the vigilante, Gwen believed that he was a well-meaning person. She also did not believe that he was a cold-blooded murderer.

Nevertheless, he was still a complete mystery to her. Gwen just wanted to be certain about her opinion about the hero. She always wondered what lay beneath that mask. The mask of a selfless superhero who joked and fought villains in the face of danger. Who risks his life everyday, even sustaining heavy battlewounds. She couldn't help but wonder how he looked like. A comedian like Jim Carey? A really handsome guy? Or just some ordinary-looking guy. Who knows?

A few minutes later, the lab doors were forced open once again as Peter Parker entered the lab.

"Gwen! How's doc?"

"Peter! He's unconscious now. We'll have to make new gene cleansers."

"Oh right, on it!" Peter replied as he quickly put on his lab gloves and began working.

"Why didn't you pickup? I called you so many times but you didn't answer." Gwen questioned.

"Maybe if you had answered my numerous texts these past few days I might hav- Oh nevermind. Sorry my bad! I'll get working on the gene cleanser." Peter quickly changed the topic as Gwen was starting to give him the look from his cheeky reply.

They got back to work.

Gwen gave a sigh. "I'm sorry Peter, I didn't mean it." she said as she continued working. "It's Harry."

"Ahhh." Peter nodded understandingly.

"He's been increasingly paranoid when I'm around you. Though he wouldn't admit it, he's been getting increasingly agitated and defensive of me. I can tell." She took a deep breath and continued. "Harry's gotten a lot more tense about your relationship with me. Sometimes I see him checking my phone. I was worried he would eventually confront you so I tried to avoid you until things calmed down. I'm sorry."

"It's alright Gwen, I understand." Peter assured as he laid his hand on her shoulder.

Gazing at him, she returned his words with a warm smile as they both got back to working on a gene cleanser.

Soon, the night set in. Gwen and Peter were the only ones in the lab. It was around seven when they started and two hours had passed. They found it difficult to find the ingredients for the serum. As if someone deliberately hid them. As they worked finding them, Peter hoped that his web bandages would continue to hold up his bleeding. "It'll be hard to explain if my clothes start turning red." He thought.

Both teenagers soon grew tired of working as it was difficult to prepare everything from scratch, especially in the absence of fully trained full-time scientists.

Just then, Gwen's phone rang. It was the Connors!

"Hello?"

"Hey Gwen, sorry there was a blackout. What was it you were gonna ask me?" Martha Connors spoke over the phone.

"Oh about your husband... You see we..."

"Curt? You wanna talk to him? He's asleep right now. Maybe you can call us back tomorrow. Gotta tuck Billy away. Bye." Martha Connors answered before hanging up.

Gwen was bewildered. She couldn't believe her ears.

"Peter..."

"Yes Gwen?"

"This creature isn't Doctor Connors."

"WHAAAT?!" Peter's eyes widened with shock. "Then who could it be? Prof Warren? Maybe he accidentally found and injected himself with Lizard serum formula. Anyway, let's get back on making the cleanser."

"No Peter."

"Why."

"I've matched the human DNA found in it with Connor's and they match." Gwen replied.

"If it isn't Doc and his DNA is found in it, then... It may not have even been human in the first place!" Peter exclaimed.

"Then what could it have been?" Gwen wondered.

"Wait. Have you seen the lab's iguana Izzy?'" Peter asked.

Both of them turned around to see an empty exhibit where the reptile was supposed to be housed in.

"Ohhhhh"

Luckily, Professor Warren who loved splicing DNA with animals had asked them to prepare gene cleansers for most if the lab animals, including iguanas.

The gene cleanser did indeed work on the mutant lizard as Peter and Gwen watched it shrink and revert into a normal-sized Iguana.

After putting the reptile back in is enclosure, the two teens sighed as they were tired from an exhaustive two hours of work and anticipation.

"I'll bet its professor Warren who's behind this." Peter declared.

"But he has an alibi. He is supposed to be overseas this period." Said Gwen

"Arghh. You know what? It's late now let's continue this some other day." Peter yawned as he prepared to leave.

"Wait Pete, about Harry... what are we gonna do from now on? I just feel so unsure on what to do.
I just don't want to end up hurting either of your feelings." Gwen anxiously asked Peter.

"It's alright Gwen, I understand and I won't hate you for it. If you need anything, just talk to MJ. You can also tell her anything you want to tell me. As I said, I'll be waiting." Peter sincerely answered her.

"Thanks Pete." Gwen replied.

She then lent in and hugged Peter as she gave in to her mental and emotional exhaustion. Peter, who was surprised but not shocked hugged her back.

The two of them shared a quiet embrace as the comfort of each other's company helped them to temporarily escape their exhaustion and the tough reality of their lives.

However, they were not alone. Perched in the branches of a tall tree was a green, scrawny, hairy creature with two large pointed ears at the side of its head. As Peter and Gwen lay relaxed in the comfort of their silent embrace, the creature sat and watched them silently into the night under the pale white moon...

So that was episode 3! As always, do provide any feedback on how I can improve and I would really like to thank everyone for all your support!

Next Episode: Spidey and match stick!