Miguel looked down at the bed where Peter laid as the arms finished sewing him back up. Soon, the procedure finished and left Peter on the hospital bed that the surgery took place on.

"How long is he gonna be out?" Miguel asked Lyla as he stared at the unconscious figure.

"I'm not sure. It should be similar to the others but they're unpredictable. Anything could happen. A while is all I can say right now."

"Put him back with the others and bring subject 1 to me."

"Of course." The bed started moving along a rail they led over to a dark room where nearly hundreds of other hospital beds were located, all with an unconscious figure laying on top of them.

Once Peter's bed stopped moving in an empty space between two others, another moved back towards Miguel that had another figure laying on it. Once it stopped in front of Miguel, he lifted the blanked covering the figure slightly to reveal the man's chest and abdomen. The entire body was completely black with scales covering every part of the body. The arms had shredded every cell of skin from the body to reveal the bones of the man with what seemed like spikes and armor starting to grow out of the bone. The hand and fingers have all been rotten off to reveal two daggers that would soon grow into swords to replace them. Miguel looked at the man's feet and saw the same process of the skin beginning to rot off. Blood littered the entire bed and changed the white sheets completely into a dark red.

"How long has he been out now?"

"Subject 1 has been out for 3 and a half months now." Lyla simply responded.

"So the mutation has almost finished?"

"Indeed."

"How much left is needed to be done?"

"The puncturing through the skin and the replacing of the organs still need to happen. The feet still obviously need to go through the process but they take less time than the rest if the body. After that is just the head. The whole process should only take another 3 weeks. Then it'll be finished.

"Those nasty little buggers work quick don't they?" Miles smiled. "Brutal."

"It's how it should be." Lyla replied.

"And how high will the pain level be?"

"Intolerable." Lyla said simply.

"Brilliant. They'll listen without hesitation then." Miguel continued to look at the rotting body ambit was deep in thought. "Put it back, and tell me once the operation is ready."

The bed was taken back to its original spot. Miguel walked away and kept thinking.

Just a few more weeks then I'll get her back

The thought made Miguel smile evily as he put on his mask to go patrol.

Miles swung over to a rooftop near the scene and watched the cops take the thieves into their cars. He soon found that he was breathing harder than he realized. He took off his mask to breath easier and looked around for anymore trouble.

"Miles?"

That voice sounded familiar to him. Miles turned and felt every one of his bones shake in shock as he saw her. Liz was standing at the other side of the building and was watching the scene at the bank. Was.

Oh noooo...

Miles tried to think of a bunch of ways to lie his way out of the situation and try to hide his secret. Maybe he could just be dressing up?

She saw you swinging on webs idiot

Miles tried to think of an idea but eventually knew that the truth was out. There was no way he could come up with a believable lie. He needed to come out with the truth.

"Umm... hey Liz." Miles said sheepishly.

"Hey Miles." Liz simply responded. Miles didn't miss the anger in her voice.

Oh boy

"So, you're the Spiderman?" She simply asked, still with the anger in her voice.

"Um... yeah?" Miles answered in a way that sounded like a question. He really wished that he could be more confident right now. Nervousness was only going to make things worse. They both looked at each other in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments.

"I can't believe you never told me." She outbursted finally.

"I'm sorry." Miles muttered.

Seriously? Muttering? That's just going to make her madder

"Why didn't you tell me? I thought I could trust you. Don't you trust me enough to keep a secret?" She accused.

"I'm really sorry Liz. I really wanted to tell you. but..." Miles trailed off.

But what?

"But what?" She asked as if she could read his mind. "Why couldn't you?"

Miles stayed silent. Why couldn't he? What held him back from telling her?

"Why?" her voice was getting louder. "Miles why?"

Still silent.

"Miles talk to me, why couldn't you tell me?" She was almost shouting by now. "Are you even listening?"

"Because I'm scared!" Miles finally answered in a shout. Liz was shocked by his outburst and stayed silent. "I already lost someone I loved because they knew. I can't go through that again. I've only just moved on recently and I can't risk that happening again." Miles felt tears coming as he let out a sniff. "Not again." He said quietly.

Liz walked over to him. "Look at me Miles." She said gently and held his face. "I know what happened to Gwen was hard on you but I promise you it won't happen again. I know you will protect me. I believe in you Miles."

Miles looked away from her. He already failed once and it nearly broke him. He didn't want to do that again.

Liz saw the doubt in his eyes. "Miles I know you can do it. I just saw you take down a gang of robbers like it was the easiest thing in the world. If there is anything that could protect me from anything, it's you. I believe in you Miles. I know you won't fail again. I just need to know if I can trust you from keeping secrets from me."

Could he? Miles looked into her eyes and saw nothing but love and trust. Love towards him and trust that he could protect her. He could.

"I promise you that I will never keep a secret from you again." Miles finally said. He could trust her. He knew he could.

Liz smiled and kissed him passionately. He kissed her back and they stayed like that until they finally needed to separate to breath.

"I love you." Miles said.

"I love you too." Liz said. They just smiled at each other for the next few moments until Liz broke away and walked over to the edge of the rooftop and sat down with her legs dangling. "So, what has the Amazing Spiderman done?"

Miles laughed and joined her, eager to tell her some of the best stories he had as a hero. They spent the next several hours there. Liz listened to Miles as he retold the past few years to her. They laughed with each other as Miles told some of the more weirder things he had seen, but they also cried with each other whenever Miles had to retell a painful memory. Liz comforted him whenever that happened and just stayed there with him which was all Miles could ever hope for.

They stayed there throughout the night. Together. Like two people who now had next to no idea what could happen tomorrow. They only knew that they had each other, and that was enough.

Miguel shut the lights and waited in the the middle of the room for a while. Suddenly, a portal opened a few feet away from him and a shadowy man walked through it. Miguel couldn't see his face or skin. All that could be seen was the outline of the man. He was completely shadow. Miguel kneeled in submission.

"My lord." Miguel addressed the man quietly.

"Is it done?" The voice was barely audible, yet also somehow firm and commanding.

"Almost. The children have been working quick. It will only be a few more weeks until they mature. They will be ready then."

The head of the shadow nodded. "You have done well. I will be sure to reward your faithfulness with what you desire once we are victorious."

"Thank you." Miguel simply replied.

The shadowy figure walked back out of the portal as it closed behind him.

Miguel rose and walked over to a mirror. He saw his eyes and lips both twitching madly.

"Lyla turn all machinery in my lab on. It's gonna be a late night."

"Of course."

Miguel walked over to his lab where he needed to check on a lot of things. But more importantly, he needed to figure out the next phase of his plan.