Chapter Eight

"Sir, Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark managed to create an antidote."

"Any reports on that Parker boy?"

"The tracking device picked up a signal deep in the sewers a few hours ago. He stopped by at one of our agent's locations, apparently badly injured from a fight. He left his camera behind after trying to take on the Lizard."

"Send an agent to retrieve that camera and find out any information on the Lizard."

"Understood, sir!"

. . .

It was early morning when I woke up. By now Clint and I had set up a routine. He sat at the table watching the news, while I fumbled around and tried to understand what to say the next time I saw Peter. I didn't want our last encounter to be remembered badly.

After our argument a couple of nights ago I was still feeling pretty crappy. It didn't help that I hadn't stopped by the Grid in the past couple of weeks. Lately I had been avoiding it. I just wasn't sure how to patch things up with Beck or Tron.

So I was more than surprised when Clint received a call from who I guessed was Director Fury. And judging from the noise coming from the phone, he wasn't happy.

"Better suit up, we have a problem," Clint muttered after tossing the phone onto the sofa.

Oh great. I had a feeling that this had something to do with the Lizard. Holding back a sigh of frustration, I grabbed the suit that Tony had designed a few months ago. It was designed to look like a program's suit, and even had a disk that worked like an identity disk. Upon use it came back to whoever was wearing the suit. Once I was fully dressed I got outside, to see that Clint was already waiting for me.

"So where exactly is this situation?" I demanded as we began running towards our destination. Clint may be fast, but I could easily keep up. I spent half of my life running back when I was on the Grid. Then came the SHIELD training that followed.

"Midtown Science High," Clint told me.

We started running towards the school, ignoring the crowd of people wandering to and from their jobs. A few people we bumped into shot us cold looks, but we didn't bother stopping to apologize. You would think by now that the sight of an Avenger was enough to send people running. Luckily they had learned in a short time to avoid us. I'm hoping it doesn't take us too long to reach the high school, especially with the Lizard on it's way, if it wasn't there already.

It didn't take us long to reach our destination. And I wasn't the least bit surprised to see Natasha standing in front of the school, waiting for us. I'm guessing that means the Lizard hadn't arrived yet, giving us some time to catch us breath.

"Anything happen yet?" I asked. Natasha just shook her head as she approached us, looking more than annoyed.

"No, but the scanners picked up something large making it's way towards this sector of the city. They're moving at inhuman speed." I knew full well that if we didn't act fast more innocent lives would be lost. "We've got two minutes to clear the area," she added.

"Well this day just gets better and better," Clint groaned. "Anyone else joining us?" Students walking outside gave us odd looks as we made our way inside. I'm guessing none of them had expected to see a couple of SHIELD agents joining them.

"Negative, Fury doesn't want anyone else getting involved," Natasha replied.

So we make this quick and easy. At least I was hoping that would be the plan. The looks we received after asking to have the area cleared were priceless. I'm pretty sure that people have already started asking why Hawkeye and Black Widow were at their school.

I wasn't going to lie when I said that I was nervous. After the last fight with the Lizard, I just wasn't sure how well this would end. Luckily it didn't take us long to spot Peter. And I wasn't surprised to see him with Gwen. Hawkeye and Widow fell in behind me as I approached them. Hopefully Peter wasn't still too pissed with me. It was Gwen who finally noticed that they weren't alone.

"Mira?" She sounded alarmed when she noticed that I wasn't alone. Peter turned to face me. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"Uh... h-hi," he stammered. "I'm not under arrest, am I?" He glanced warily at Widow and Hawkeye. Both remained silent, much to my relief. I'm sure Hawkeye's already told Widow about our little fight.

Before I could reply, a loud scream echoed from outside, followed by a roar as the Lizard burst through the walls at the end of the hallway. The remaining students began to run as the panic took over. Frankly I couldn't blame them for being terrified. Anyone would be if a giant lizard was stalking them. And now we were his prey.

"That's why we're here," Hawkeye pointed out.

Gwen stared at the Lizard in alarm. Peter turned to face her, eyes dark with worry. "I'm gonna throw you out the window," he suddenly told her. She just stared at him like he was insane. Even I had to wonder where he was getting at with this. While Hawkeye and Widow had the Lizard distracted, Peter used this as a chance to throw Gwen out of the window, but not before throwing a web down for her to cling on to.

The Lizard tossed aside Natasha as she shot at him, than went straight for Peter and me. Grabbing my disk and activating it, I tossed it at the Lizard, hoping to knock him off of his claws. The Lizard let out a roar of fury when it left a fresh cut across his skin. I flipped back just in time to avoid getting swept off my feet by the Lizard's tail, catching my disk in the process.

Peter aimed his webbing at the Lizard's feet to slow it down, just as Hawkeye aimed an arrow at it's shoulder. The Lizard just shook off the explosive arrow like it was nothing. Once he recovered from the attack he tossed Peter into the wall, sending him flying into another room. And than the Lizard charged after us.

"We could really use some more space here," I shouted as I avoided getting swatted by the Lizard's tail. Natasha just tried shooting at him again, but they didn't seem to be doing anything. Every now and than he would flinch until I assumed she ran out of ammo.

"Widow, get out of here and evacuate the building," Hawkeye ordered as he fired another arrow. By now the Lizard had run to where Peter had been thrown. I really hope he wasn't too badly injured. "You go with her," he added after glancing at me.

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," I muttered with a roll of my eyes. Natasha wasted no time in getting away just as the Lizard had found Peter. Using the Lizard's distraction as an opportunity, I threw my disk into the back of his head in the hopes of knocking some sense into the small brain of his.

"Uh oh." Peter had finally joined us after dressing in his suit. The Lizard turned to face him, lips drawling back in a snarl as Peter taunted him, "someone's been a bad lizard."

I had to laugh as the Lizard just roared back. But my amusement was cut short when the Lizard grabbed a locker door and threw it in our direction. Hawkeye and I jumped out of the way just in time, but the Lizard continued throwing locker doors when he finally found some decent ammo.

We were running out of space as we managed to reach the library. Peter swung after us while the Lizard gave chase. By now the building had been cleared, giving us the chance to cause some damage without injuring any civilians in the process.

"I sure hope Fury doesn't mind paying for all of this," I muttered after using my hand to perform a back flip. Peter managed to trap the Lizard with his webbing, though I had a feeling that it wouldn't hold the Lizard for long.

"I think we've got bigger things to worry about," Hawkeye told me. He aimed another arrow at the Lizard, this time near the ribs. It sent a jolt of electricity through the Lizard, momentarily paralyzing it. Just as the Lizard had pulled it out the sound of sirens wailed from outside.

The Lizard suddenly started throwing more locker doors at us, using the distraction to get further ahead. It took me a few seconds to realize that Peter was leading it away from us. The further he got the more anxious I became. If anything happened to him I would never forgive myself.

I didn't bother giving Hawkeye the chance to tell me to wait. I just followed the trail of destruction, hoping to catch up in time. One of the many reasons why I hated reptiles was the fact that their tails could grow back. The whole idea just groused me out, and seeing the tail now made my stomach twist. What really made me want to vomit was the fact that the tail was still twitching. I just gave the tail a wide birth and reached what I guessed was the library.

Standing near the back of the library was a clueless looking librarian, wearing a pair of headphones. I was about to let him know we weren't alone when the roar of a familiar Lizard caught my attention. And sure enough he was already standing over me, claws extended and ready for a killing blow. Bracing myself for the attack, I stood my ground and glared back.

"Dr. Connors, you're not yourself!" Peter shouted as he grabbed hold of the Lizard.

Wait, Lizard dude was Dr. Connors? Somehow that did not surprise me. In fact, I think it was a bit too obvious. I mean, Connors had been studying reptiles and cross-species genetics.

The Lizard just ignored him and shook him off. I took the moment to throw my disk, this time leaving a nasty bruise on the Lizard's skull. He turned to glare at me, teeth bared as he got ready to charge once again. Just how much energy did one giant lizard have? I was already getting worn out from all the running I had done earlier, and the Lizard was relentless. And at this point Hawkeye might run out of arrows if he caught up with us.

A standoff followed as the Lizard observed us with piercing eyes. At this rate we would both be exhausted if this kept up. But I summoned up the courage to glare back, ready for the Lizard's next move. Suddenly the sound of police sirens wailing in the distance alerted us all. The Lizard used it as a chance to break free, disappearing in a cloud of debris. Peter jumped down to join me, looking more than exhausted.

"You okay?" Peter looked at me warily after taking off the mask.

"Never better," I said shakily. "We have to go after it," I added.

Peter just raised an eyebrow and looked slightly amused. "We?" He shook his head before going on, "Your parents will kill me if you go with me. You stay here and explain what happened, I'll be fine."

I was about to argue when something held me back. Call it instinct, but I had a feeling that he was right. Widow and Hawkeye would never let him go if anything serious had happened to me. So nice to have overprotective parents, right?

"Just, please be careful," I murmured, suddenly remembering what Beck had told me a few weeks ago. He'd really be freaking out now if he saw what I was up to. It was probably not a good idea to tell him or Tron what had happened.

"I will be," he said before putting the mask back on.

He was already gone by the time Hawkeye arrived. By now the police were already investigating the scene, asking him who had attacked the school. I just stood in the background and waited for it all to be over. I've never been a fan of the press, and I doubt I ever will be.

"What exactly did this creature look like?" one reporter asked.

Please let this be over with, I thought desperately. All I wanted to do now was make sure that the Lizard was stopped. That same uneasy feeling had returned moments after he had vanished. And I knew that no good would come out of this fight.

AN: Aha, that scene with Gwen is probably one of my favorites. Getting thrown out of a window is never fun :P Thanks to Briannajs-22 and Panda Bear Lover 317 for reviewing! You guys are awesome :) Hopefully this chapter was just as good ^^ (And maybe you caught hints as to what will happen in Disaster, if so than congrats :P)