I looked down at the communicator, no desire to answer it. My resolve had left me and as I knelt on the floor I could feel the fear I had worked so hard to repress beginning to surface. This wasn't some game, people could die here and I could be one of them. I brought my hand tentatively to the vial attached to my hip, the antidote that was needed. Slowly wrapping my fingers around it I tugged it from the belt and brought it into view. Running my thumb over it I told myself that I needed to get this to Peter. Whether I was hiding myself in my self pity or not, he couldn't stop the Lizard without this.
I clenched my fist at the thought of it, imagining the vial was the Lizards neck. This was no time to sit around feeling sorry for myself. Whether I was playing hero or not this wasn't about me. Attaching the vial back to my belt I slowly pulled myself to my feet, legs shaking and back groaning. Exhaustion had settled in on me and if anything that would make me a liability- if I wasn't already. Holding my hands out in front of me I summoned my magic forth and watched the blue energy swirl around my hands. It lit up the darkened hallway and I found myself transfixed by it.
"You'd better play ball now," I said to it, watching it for a few more seconds before cancelling it, the magic fading away and leaving me in the darkness once again. No, not darkness; there were still the lights that shone from all the over buildings, from the cars still about and police sirens.
Taking a few deep breaths, I pushed that fear back down and buried it once again. Let it become a shrink's problem in a few years or so. I felt my composure return and felt the familiar mixture of excitement and anxiety return. It felt fake now, but I wasn't set out to please an audience and I wasn't going to break down again- at least not until I got home. With what I hoped was a confident stride I began to continue my journey to the roof.
Running on to the roof, I slowed down and tried to keep out of sight as the Lizard held Peter up, tail wrapped around his neck with one hand sporting his mask and the other wrapped around both of his hands as wispy trails of webbing drifted to the ground.
"Poor Peter Parker," he said with emphasis, in the short silence that followed making a noise that was almost like purring. "No mother, no father, no uncle… all alone."
"Says the full grown man who wants to be a lizard and live in the sewers," I commented. The Lizard turned to look at me and roared. Firing up my magic once again I shot at the liquid nitrogen, the hose shattering from its base.
Peter wrestled a hand free and grabbed it, turning the nozzle on the Lizard with a fierce determination.
Lending my assistance I fired a shot at the Lizards now frozen hand, feeling slightly disturbed as it shattered only to grow back again. Part of me wondered if my healing abilities would allow me to grow limbs back- something I'd hopefully never have to find out.
Roaring again the Lizard swung his tail around, before he could hit Peter though it had frozen.
I aimed another magic bolt at him and watched with grim satisfaction as that also shattered. But this was nothing more than a distraction and we weren't going to be able to stop him if we didn't stop the device. "Peter!" I shouted as I aimed another bolt at his hand. "Stop the machine!"
He looked at me hesitantly before nodding, dropping the hose and making the dash to the tower where the machine stood raised above us. "Detonation in T-minus 45 seconds."
"Take this!" I shouted, reaching down to my belt and tugging off the capsule. With a quick prayer to whatever deities were listening I chucked it across to him and watched with relief as he caught it.
My attention off him the Lizard lunged, aiming to swipe at me. A loud bang rent the air and he was knocked backwards before he could reach me.
Turning my head sharply to see the new arrival I was overwhelmed with relief to see Hawkeye standing there with what I assumed had been Captain Stacey's gun. With a nod he chucked it away and pulled out his bow, notching another arrow as the Lizard roared once again. "Sorry I'm late, Tash and I were trying to stop some police officer from playing martyr."
"And what are you doing?" I asked, swinging my arm around in an arc as my magic swept out and knocked the Lizard off his feet. A distraction which only brought us seconds at most and as I looked out of the corner of my eye I noticed it gave Peter time to reach the machine.
With a roar, the Lizard dropped to all fours and ran towards the tower, dodging everything Clint and I sent at him and with one big bound landing a good way up the tower. Grabbing the rungs tightly he crawled up as fast as he was allowed, a grin crossing his face as the gap between him and Peter closed.
My heart began to race, ideas rapidly wheeling through my mind as I tried to imagine a way to stop him. I thought back to earlier and how I could have sworn there was fire on my hands. If that was true then I was going to need to use that again. I took a deep breath as I tried to find it again.
Hawkeye meanwhile pulled out another of his explosive arrows and prepared to fire, only to stop as the Lizard reached the platform- he couldn't risk hurting Spider-Man or damaging the machine. "If you'd like to help at some point," he said to me, changing arrows.
I felt the heat rising in my body and pulled on it the same way I did with my magic, watching in satisfaction and excitement as the blue magic swirling around my hand changed to the red of fire. Hopefully it works the same as regular magic, I thought swinging a fireball at the Lizard who screeched in pain.
Peter used this distraction to jump and kick him squarely in the chest with both feet, making him fall off the platform.
"When did you learn these new tricks?" asked Hawkeyes, firing a Taser arrow at the Lizard before he tried to climb back up to the platform above.
The voice of the machine began to count down from ten and I felt a surge of relief that this would all be over soon. I aimed another fireball just above the Lizard as he prepared to dash up again.
He realised that we weren't going to let him and ran at us instead, dodging our weapons and picking up a canister of liquid nitrogen. With a growl he hurled it as us and we jumped out of the way, watching it spiral over to the door where it exploded and froze the entire frame. Picking up another he threw it at us again, then another and another.
I jumped back as one exploded in front of my feet, the ground underneath me freezing as I landed. My legs slipped out from underneath me and I fell to the ground, not able to move quickly enough to dodge the next one.
Hawkeye did a sideways roll and put his bow away as he pulled me away from the canister, dragging me to the side as it sailed past.
With a quiet thanks I got to my feet and watched in satisfaction as the blue projectile was shot into the air from the machine.
The Lizard stopped to watch as well, not realising his plan had been foiled as blue flecks began to rain down from the sky.
It was over. We'd done it.
The flecks rained down onto the Lizard. He began to screech as he realised the specks were changing him back, trying to brush them off in a futile attempt to stop them. Writhing and twisting as he struggled for control, only for his tough hide to give way to human flesh and his tail and right arm to fade away into nothing.
Peter jumped down from the tower and came to stand next to us as we took the next few seconds to recover. "Well that was exhausting," he commented.
"If you think that's exhausting kid then wait until the next alien invasion," Hawkeye said, shaking his head. "Facing that many enemies at once is a pain."
"Doesn't mean this isn't exhausting," I pointed out, watching as the last of the Lizard faded away and a very awkward Dr Connors was left standing there. "I think I could use a break."