They were all gathered in the living room now, sitting down quietly as they listened to what Laura had to say.
"A-a what now?" Peter asked, completely dumbfounded as he looked at the raven-haired girl.
"You're a mutant," she stated once again.
"No-no, see…I get that part…the thing that I don't understand is, what's a mutant?" he asked her as he's obviously never come across that term.
"A mutant is someone born with a special gene that gives them powers. I am one of them. You are too," she flatly explained.
He paused for a moment taking in what she said.
What she said didn't make any sense.
"I clearly remember telling you I got my powers from a genetically engineered spider," he said to her with a furrowed brow while pointing at her.
When he said this though, she simply turned her gaze briefly onto Reed who took pleasure in explaining the situation.
"The thing is Peter, these new developments are because of the genetically engineered spider," Reed stated as he gave him the datapad.
"What?" Peter said to him in utter confusion as he looked at his own blood results.
"This gene that gives you your powers-"
"The x-gene," Laura stated as Reed was blanking on the term.
"-The x-gene -Thank You, Laura, is something that you've always had but you've never developed powers because it was damaged," Reed said as Peter observed his blood. The pad displayed three blood samples: one from years ago, one he gave Reed six months ago, and the one he gave Reed now.
He looked at it, completely understanding what he was looking at, but at a loss at the same time.
"You suffer from a chromosomal deletion syndrome on your twenty-third chromosome where the gene is set on," Reed stated at the same pace Peter was reading the results.
"I don't understand though, shouldn't I look like Jason Vorhees if I'm missing a couple of genes?" he asked the world-renowned scientist. It should go without saying, that having such a syndrome should and would have grave detrimental effect's but to his knowledge, he had no such disability due to this.
"Like you already don't?" Johnny joked, earning an unamused glare from both Peter and Laura.
"That's the thing Peter, you don't have any damage when it comes to normal standards, but when it comes to the development of powers, you were never supposed to get any, but that all changed when the spider bit you. As you know, it rewrote your DNA alongside changing your physiology. This includes adding the genes you were missing alongside the necessary proteins your body couldn't generate because of your syndrome," Reed said to the astonishment of Peter.
"That makes sense, but If I had this all the time then how come I'm only getting these new powers now?" Peter asked Reed as these new power's really would've come in handy in the past.
"From what the data displays, combined with what Laura has told me, the x-gene activates under a variety of different circumstances, usually in puberty, sometimes randomly, sometimes…when there's great trauma or a great presence of emotions," Reed had paused, turning his attention from his datapad and onto the young boy who has experienced more than most people, and who has lost more than most as well.
lost and experienced more then most people should.
"You said that you developed these powers last night…can you tell us...what transpired before you went to bed?" He hesitantly asked Peter, wishing there was another way so that he didn't have to pry the teen.
"...I...I made a promise," Peter said wholeheartedly.
All the members of the four looked at him with a sympathetic gaze as they understood what he meant.
"That promise Peter, the resolve that came with it must've been a catalyst to the activation of your x-gene. Did you happen to pass out after making it?" Reed asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yea," Peter responded in surprise.
"That's because your body was in the process of generating the proteins you needed to activate your X-gene, and because of the multiple powers you've now acquired, it would've taken too much energy for you to stay conscious while developing them," Reed clarified towards Peter which made sense as to why he passed out yesterday although that wasn't a prevalent thing within his mind. "On the topic of your new powers though…" Reed said as he shifted his tone to a more excited one, "Because your x-gene was activated thanks to the spider, all of your new powers complement your old ones. Your faster optical nerves, which I've taken the pleasure to dub 'accelerated vision,' allows you to process things much faster than the regular person, so it makes it seem that everything moves in slow motion, which is perfect for your spider-sense. Alongside that however, you can also see clearly while moving at fast rates and you can also see objects that move at fast speed's with just as much clarity," Reed stated matter of factually.
Peter thought about what he just said.
His spider-sense was already handy as it is, it's only weakness, him not being fast enough to react to it, was practically annihilated with these new eyes of his.
He was excited to learn more about his newfound powers.
Reed noticed the excitement that was in his eyes and delightfully feed it.
"That's not it though, those fangs of yours also produce a non-lethal paralyzing poison which can instantly neutralize anyone who doesn't have an enhanced immune system and even then, depending on the strength of them, you can still paralyze them or slow them to give you an edge," Peter liked the sound of that. "We've already touched upon your strength so I won't go over that, but I guess the one thing you really want to know about are those stingers of yours?"Reed asked with a smirk and Peter nodded.
"Well Peter, while spiders may not have anything resembling a stinger, scorpions, who are in the arachnid class, do. With the reasoning as to why you have them out of the way, we can now get to the fun part about them: because of your bone density your stingers can easily pierce through anything that isn't adamantium or vibranium-"
"-Or my skin," Ben added.
"Or Ben's skin, I don't know why you would ever need to do that but that is also another one of the few things you can't cut through," Reed said.
"Who knows, maybe Doom will pull that body-snatching thing again and rampage through Ben's body? Or the Wizard will mind control him again, or he'll-" Johnny said as he listed off all the times Ben has been mind-controlled.
"Enough Torch!" Ben interrupted, not a fan of remembering the time's he didn't have autonomy over his own body.
Johnny let out a laugh at this.
"It's not funny when you're the one getting mind-controlled now is it?" Johnny asked as he was getting payback for earlier.
Ben let out a scowl.
"When Ben gets mind-controlled again I'll just hit him really hard, ole Yancy street style," Peter said mockingly.
"You better," Ben said with a smile but then he paused as he registered Peter's words.
"Wait…'When I get mind-controlled again?'" he asked him, his brow furrowing deeper within his literal stone face.
"What?" Peter asked as he put his hand in the air, "It's going to happen again. I just hope they make you wear a ballet dress while doing it," he said, unable to contain his laughter.
"With a pretty pink tutu, it'll make you look cuter than you already do," Johnny added as he laughed with Peter.
"Why I oughta-" Ben frustratingly said as he got up from his seat to walk towards the two teens only to be stopped by Sue who was holding back her own laughs.
"Th-they're only joking Ben," She said as she tried defending the boys.
He let out a grumble as he sat back down.
"...unruly children…" he mumbled to himself.
After settling down and having Reed say what he had to say Peter turned his attention to Laura who was simply standing there observing the whole interaction.
Not wanting her to be left out or feel like she didn't belong, he decided to go and ask questions he had about mutants.
"So I'm a mutant now," he said as he looked at Laura who did the same.
"Yes," she simply said.
"What does that mean?" Peter asked Laura.
"It means that you now belong to a class of people who are hated and feared by the few that know of them," she stated to his surprise.
That doesn't sound so good.
"There is a place for us, an Institute; It is run by a man named Charles Xavier," Reed perked up at that.
"Charles Xavier?" Reed asked her with a raised brow. "If I'm not mistaken he wrote a paper about the development of a special gene within humans, but if I recall, it was widely refuted," Reed said to her.
"I have been there only a week, so I don't know much, but from what I have been told, Charles Xavier has dedicated his life towards the goal of having Mutants and Humans live together in harmony while safeguarding them from evil mutants," she stated once again gaining everyone's interest.
"Evil mutants?" Peter asked her to make sure he was hearing things right.
"That is what I have been told, outside of that, I know nothing," she stated.
"This sounds like Transformers," Johnny inputted. Peter looked at his friend with an unamused look, "What? Two sides of a secret race of people, one aiming to protect humanity while the other wants to do evil things," Johnny explained his reasoning to his friend.
Peter didn't respond.
"What? You made me watch those movies Pete," Johnny said defensively.
"Yea and for the entire time you ogled at Megan Fox," Peter said as he recalled the day when they watched the first three movies.
"Can you blame me? She's hot," Johnny naughtily said.
"Johnny, you know there's a place on the innernet' fer' that type of stuff," Ben said to his teammate.
"I know," Johnny stated with a playful smirk.
Everyone sighed while Laura remained unphased, Storm was exactly like Drake.
"So let me get this straight," Peter said, turning his attention to her.
"I'm a mutant, someone born with a gene that gives me powers?" he asked her, she nodded.
"And people are going to unjustly judge me?" he asked her, she nodded.
"And I'm going to guess that these 'evil mutants' want to kill me?" Peter questioningly asked.
"I can only assume so," She honestly answered.
"Is there anything good that comes with being a mutant outside the powers?" Peter asked her, as so far, all he's only received was whole lot of bad news.
She thought about the current situation and the possible future ones.
"No."
He let out a sigh as he leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling.
"Of course I can't just get new powers. Why can't things be easy? Why can't things be just as they seem," Peter complained to the amusement of Johnny.
Johnny laughed at his friend's misfortune.
"What can I say? Your life is just destined to suck Pete," Peter looked at Johnny, once again unamused with this comment. He knew his life was destined to suck, he didn't need him to remind him of that.
"You don't say anything," Peter replied before looking at Laura.
"Anything else I missed?" he asked her in an exhausted tone.
"The institute," she said as he didn't ask about that.
"Ah yes, the institute," Peter said as he leaned back on the couch. "I'm guessing it's full of superpowered teenagers too?" he asked in a mocking tone, she nodded.
"No way!" he said with disbelief as both him and Johnny immediately sat up.
"All this time I thought we were the only super teens," Johnny said as he looked at Peter. Them being the only teenagers in this weird world of theirs was what brought the two together, even if they didn't like it at the time. "Now you're telling us that there's a school full of superpowered teenagers like us?" Johnny asked with surprise.
She nodded.
Sue and Reed perked up at that.
"ain't this a revolting development," Ben said with surprise.
"And you didn't invite us?" Johnny asked as he looked at Peter. "I mean, I get not inviting him, but me as well?" Johnny said as he pointed at himself.
"You two did not meet the requirements and you still don't," she stated fiercely at Johnny.
He put his hands in the air, "Who cares? I'm part of the world's greatest team, plus I'm Johnny Storm, that should be the only requirement I need," He said with pride.
They all looked at him again with a deadpan expression.
Peter and Laura bid farewell to the Fantastic Four, they all said their goodbyes and Peter told Johnny that he'd see him tomorrow.
Dark clouds overlooked the city now as it was about to rain again, although not as violent as yesterday. He was perched silently on a rooftop with Laura standing beside him, his white lenses reflecting the streets below as he was still processing all of this.
She looked at him as he was unusually silent for once.
"So I'm a mutant," he asked her once again.
"Yes," she simply responded.
"I don't feel like a mutant," Peter noted as he looked at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she replied, how does one feel like a mutant?
"I don't feel any different, outside my new powers it's practically the same thing with a different name. The situation isn't different either as people are still going to hate me. It's like doing those DNA tests and finding out your family's history. You think it's going to be a big deal, but it's nothing more than a fun fact," Peter explained.
"Who said things have to be different?" Laura simply replied.
"You…you actually have a good point," Peter thought as he dwelled upon her words. Just because he was a mutant doesn't mean things have to be different. He's still Peter Parker, still Spider-Man, that's all that really matters.
He got up from his perched position and stood up tall.
"I take it that we'll go hunting for that 'thing' now," Laura said as she watched him look out into the gray horizon. "Yea, let's hope that's going to be the only thing we'll have to deal with today. I don't want more bank robberies that'll distract us from a rampaging Dino," Peter said as he didn't want more people getting hurt. He knew that wouldn't happen though, New York being in the midst of a crime wave n'all.
"You left me to handle that," she said harshly as she was none too pleased being left behind while him and Storm dealt with crime. Understanding her frustration, he apologetically scratched the back of his head as he said, "Yea…Sorry about that, force of habit. I'm not really used to team-ups like these," most of the time, team-ups ended when the bad guy retreated, but then again, most of the time, the people he was teaming up with didn't immediately find out who he was, nor did he trust them as much as he trusted her.
"Don't do that again. I am here to help, not be left behind waiting," she said firmly as she strongly looked into his white lenses. He abruptly let the air in his body through his nose before smiling, "Well then, let's get started shall we? You got a mask on you?"
"No," Logan had thwarted her attempts. Peter sighed at this, "Well… you're lucky it's dark," he said to her as he looked at the clouds.
It would provide some cover.
"You got a uniform at least?"
She nodded and simply took off her pink sweater.
"What are you-"
"-This is what I will wear," she said to him.
She couldn't see it, but he was really pink underneath his mask.
He thought his uniform showed off his body.
Her uniform itself wasn't bad, it certainly wasn't bad. The black sports bra with the long leather arm warmers, not a bad combo, much better than his first uniform but…
…He was just grateful he had lenses to mask his eyes.
He has spent too much time with Johnny.
Yea, he'd pin these thoughts on him and not on the fact that she was extremely attractive.
"Is there a problem?" she asked him as he just stood there looking at her.
"N-no it's just…just…where are you going to put that?" he asked her as he pointed at the sweater.
"In your bag, where else would I put it?" She told him as she pointed at the blue backpack that was beside his feet.
"G-good point," Peter said as he picked up his backpack so that she could put her sweater inside.
"You have your phone on you?" he asked her as she finished stuffing her sweater inside his bag, she nodded,
"Put it in here too so it doesn't get destroyed when we do the superheroing," he said to her as he checked to make sure his phone was also in his bag. She obliged and put it in and watched how he quickly closed the bag and webbed it on a wall.
He swapped cartridges, before webbing it on a wall though.
He then swapped back again before turning to her.
"Made em' myself," he said proudly as noticed her watching him swap cartridges.
"I know," she stated.
"How?" he said, tilting his head.
"I read your notebook," that's right, she broke into his house earlier.
"Is an hour all we need?" she asked him.
"No, this is a stronger formula so it holds much longer than an hour. I made it because I would always come back to find out that my bags and everything in it were stolen," he said, narrowing his brows.
He missed so much homework because of that.
"Alright, so you know the rules?" he asked her, "Always call you Spider-Man," she told him. "You remembered the hyphen! Good, now for rule two of this superhero gig," she listened keenly, hoping that it wasn't another stupid rule. "At the sound of sirens, cries for help, or just anything that could possibly endanger people, we drop everything we're doing to go and help, Capeesh?" he said tilting his head.
She nodded, that was a good rule.
"We're gonna go back to where we initially found that 'thing' and see if you can track where it came from. If we're lucky it can lead us somewhere like a lab or portal to another dimension where everyone's a monstrous reptile," he said playfully.
She nodded.
"Alright Claw-Girl!" he said with a laugh as he walked to the edge of the building, "Try and keep up!" he cockily said as he let his body weight send him off the rooftop.
"Claw-Girl?" she thought as she jumped off the rooftop as well.
Chapter 7: The First Night
Peter smiled at the feeling of the smooth wind on his face as he did flips and tricks over small objects that were placed on the rooftops he ran on. He effortlessly jumped over gaps between buildings with the thought of Laura crossing his mind much later than it should have.
Did he leave her behind?
He looked behind him only to be left surprised as she was in toe with him despite his head start.
"You're fast," he said as he was impressed with her speed.
"I'm faster," she stated.
"Really? Let's test that," he said as he sped up, immediately finding himself multiple buildings away in a matter of seconds. As he landed on a building a couple of blocks from where he once was, he turned around to expect her to be a lengthy distance behind him but was once again left surprised and impressed as like before, she was still in toe with him.
"If this is a test, you should know I have done harder obstacles with ease when I was merely a child," Laura said as she hasn't even broken a sweat.
"Well lucky for you, we're just getting started," Peter said with a grin as he once again started with a sprint. This 'test' of his was more akin to a race Laura noticed. While it was childish, she would entertain him for the sole fact that if she didn't, she would be left behind again.
She would admit that it did take effort to keep up with him.
They ran for minutes straight without either of them tiring. She was simply running and jumping when she had to but he was doing extravagant tricks that weren't needed for the simple jumps he had to take. She had found herself taking part in this race of his now, overtaking him only to lose the lead seconds later. The thought of losing to him was what pushed her to go faster and while she wouldn't say it, she was impressed with Peter's speed.
"You might be fast, but how long can ya last!" he yelled from above her as he jumped over multiple buildings overtaking her.
"Twenty-four hours at maximum efficiency before tiring," she matter-of-factly stated as she overtook him.
"What are your powers again?" he asked in a bewildered tone as he caught up with her. "Enhanced speed, senses, agility, reflexes, stamina, immune system, a regenerative healing factor and you've already seen my claws," she listed off.
"I heard nothing about enhanced aggression and soul-piercing glares?" he quipped at her. "I heard nothing about your brain damage earlier," she retorted with her lips slightly curling.
"You cracked a funny," he said in an impressed tone.
"I wasn't joking," she simply said with a smirk.
He laughed at that.
"You can be real mean, you know that Claw-Girl?" he said in a mock hurt tone. She scowled at that, "Do not call me 'Claw-Girl,'" she said aggressively. "What else am I gonna call you? 'Snikety-Snikt?" Peter asked her as that name rolled off the tongue automatically.
He paused for a moment and widened his eyes behind his lenses.
"Oooh! That's a good one," Peter said with overwhelming joy.
"Do not call me that! Ever!" she snapped instantly causing him to wince.
"Alright, alright, sheesh…how about…'Claw-Woman?'" Peter recommended, an actual attempt to create a name that wouldn't be bad.
"No," she would not be called that either. "Do you just use the simplest of nouns when it comes to naming things?" she said as she noticed a trend: Spider-Man, Spider-Signal, Web-Shooter, Claw-Girl.
He stared at her for a good second before simply saying, "Yes."
"That's lazy," she stated.
"Hey, I'd like to see you come up with a name," he said as he was offended by her insult.
"...Claw…" she said as she tried coming up with a name.
"Oh. 'Claw,' that's…that's really creative and original and it doesn't use the simplest of nouns either," Peter mockingly said much to her dismay. "Thankfully you can't use it though because there's someone else with a poor taste in names," he added.
"Someone else's name is 'Claw?'" she asked as she was curious as to who would name themselves that.
"Yea, he's this one note supervillain who has a supersonic megaphone as a hand but he spells it with a 'k' for some reason," Peter said as he recalled the so-called "Master of Sound."
She let out an annoyed sigh and tried again.
"Fang."
"You don't even have fangs," Peter commented.
"And you're not even a man and yet your name is 'Spider-Man,'" she irritably retorted as she looked forward.
"That… hurt…" Peter said with a pout.
"I don't need a stupid name, just call me 'X-23,'" she said as she gave up in her futile attempts to come up with a 'superhero name.'
"No," he simply said.
She looked at him and narrowed her eyes at this response.
"Why?" Why wouldn't he call her 'X-23?'
"We're heroes, not different variants of fridges. You think people are gonna look up at the sky and say 'Hey look, it's X-23!' No! That's dumb. You gotta have a name that inspires hope, that brings safety and smiles when people hear it and it's gotta ring a couple bells too. More importantly though, it's gotta be something you want ,and be honest here, do you really want to be called 'X-23?" That name sounded like it belonged to a gaming product trying to be cool or a robot and she was neither of those things.
She paused for a moment and thought about it.
He did have a point.
"No," she didn't want to be called 'X-23.'
That was the name of a weapon.
"Then I'm not gonna call you 'X-23.' I'll stick with 'Claw-Girl' until you find a name for yourself, alright?" he said to her with a warm smile underneath his mask.
She gazed at him for a moment.
"...Alright," She said softly as she looked forward, smiling inwardly.
This was nice.
However…
"Do not call me 'Snikety-Snikt," she said fiercely.
"Alright…. Snikety-Snikt," he said with a laugh before speeding up. She let out a growl as he sped up but just as he was far enough, she let out a tiny smile before catching up.
They made it to the location of their first encounter completely uninterrupted within ten minutes. Laura was sniffing the air while Peter observed the streets, his mind on something else.
They had arrived here uninterrupted.
Something was off.
Crime was supposed to be at an all-time high and yet he's only stopped two today, that was less than a good day which averaged at seven. Either the Kingpin was taking a holiday or he saw today's broadcast.
Whatever the case was, it would make today's task simpler than it already was.
"What is it Scoob?" Peter asked as he watched Laura sniff the air.
"The scent seems to have come from that direction," Laura stated as she pointed down the horizon.
"You know with that nose of yours you remind me of one of my friends. He goes by the name 'Daredevil,' he can also track things with his nose," Peter said as he drew a comparison.
"Mine is better," she confidently said. "You don't have to tell me that. Ole' DD can only track fresh scents. The fact that you can track it when it's a day old is amazing," he said with amazement.
"I can track scents that are utmost a week old," She declared and he was surprised by this again. "Can I give you a call when I'm fighting The Chameleon?" Peter jokingly asked.
"The Chameleon?" She raised a brow at this name.
"Yea, he's a supervillain I've had the pain of facing," Peter grumbled.
"He sounds stupid," Laura stated.
"He is stupid. He has no powers. His whole gimmick is that he carries around a whole bunch of face masks that resemble real people and impersonates them. It's the absolute worst cause when he runs away he'll put on a different mask and blend in with a crowd and it's just a big pain, " Peter complained as he recalled the various encounters he's had with that weirdo.
"Should he be such a bother, then yes," Laura answered, taking his joke seriously.
He was taken aback by this.
"Wait-no, I was-I was joking," Peter tried to clarify to her.
"I wasn't," Laura stated.
Wow, she was seriously offering to help again after this.
He was really happy hearing that.
He liked being with Laura.
"Now come, we have a Lizard to hunt," she said as she looked at the horizon.
"Lizard…" he said out loud. "...The Lizard!" he exclaimed. She looked at him questioningly, "That's what we'll call it! You know, You're not bad at this," he finished.
She gave him a deadpanned look.
"We are not calling it 'The Lizard.'"
They started calling it 'The Lizard.'
Laura guided Peter as she followed The Lizard's scent. She noticed how there was always a constant when tracking it: no matter how many turns it made, or how far they went, it was intertwined with another two scents.
The scents belonged to the woman and the child Peter saved.
It was following them before the events of last night.
She looked at him as he continued to run on the rooftops, prompting him to return it.
"What is it?" he asked her. "The woman and the child you saved yesterday, The Lizard was after them," she stated. "Their car was singled out from the accident last night…" he said briefly recalling how The Lizard specifically targeted them. "And I'm so glad that you're calling it 'The Lizard.'"
"Did they mention anything?" she asked. "And I am only calling it that lazy name because we have no other term for it," he let out a laugh at that before once again going serious.
"The lady mentioned something about her husband but…"
"There was no one there yesterday that had their scents on them," she said, recalling the various scents that were there yesterday. If her husband was indeed on the scene then there should've been a scent that had traces of the two in it, but there wasn't.
"That's odd," Peter thought. There should've been someone who had the women's scent on them, she said her husband was there….
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…
Singled out car.
The Lizard was seemingly interested in only those two.
All the woman said from yesterday was "My husband!" in an extremely panicked voice.
While looking at The Lizard
"What if there was and we didn't know it," he said as he started connecting the dots. "Impossible, I would have detected it," she stated.
"What if someone underwent a transformation that would severely change their scent," he hinted at her, "What are you getting at?" Was he implying that The Lizard was a person?
"There's a scientist, he was a professor at Empire State University. His name is Doctor Curtis Connors and if I recall he has a wife and a son. He wrote a paper on cross-species genetics, how humans could be augmented with special abilities if spliced with other animals. I read it when I got bit by the spider. His paper focused on the potential humans could have if spliced with reptiles specifically; He hypothesized that if done correctly, humans could have capabilities that could instantaneously heal limbs, lift trucks with a pinky, run faster than speeding cars, even crawl on walls."
"Like what we faced yesterday," she finished.
"Anything else?"
"He dropped off the face of the earth after ESU denied his research for safety reasons," he finished.
She looked forward and narrowed her eyes.
They denied his research for it being too dangerous. It was dangerous, and if it was one thing she knew, people wanted something that was dangerous. There was a strong possibility that after being denied, someone else saw the potential of Connor's research.
They possibly saw something they could weaponize and like any weapon, what they faced could just be a prototype. She looked at Peter who ran beside her, Spider-Man was someone who dealt with everything, he had such an impact that when he left, a huge crime wave appeared in his absence. He is powerful, the tests have proved that, excelling in every category short of energy projection. The Lizard had shown to have almost all of his powers save for his spider-sense but what it lacked in a precognition-multi-purpose-sense it had redeemed itself with almost instantaneous regeneration.
There was a possibility that someone was trying to recreate his powers.
"He lives somewhere near Hell's Kitchen, which isn't a coincidence that we're currently running towards the area following The Lizard's scent," Peter told her in a serious tone. Matt had kept him updated over the events that transpired when he was gone, if it was an act to plead to his conscience, it worked, because it made him feel worse throughout his month-long hiatus.
His message specifically said that Hell's Kitchen was territory that belonged to the Kingpin.
"We need to hurry, it's already dark and it could be on the move," she said as she noticed that the clouds had gotten significantly darker, and rain was already starting to drizzle.
"Grab on, I'll swing us there," he said as he sped up towards the edge of the building they were currently on.
As he was in the process of jumping off the building, she jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he launched himself into the air. She held on tightly as they started to fall. This was still new to her, the wind, the speed, the height, however with each swing she grew comfortable.
She did notice he was going slow for her however.
"Do not go slow for me," she told him as she held on tightly, "You sure?"
"I am sure," she stated as she held on tightly.
"Well then hold on tight! Next stop, the Lemurian continent!" he said out loud causing Laura to look at him confused, "What? Ever heard of the lizard people conspiracy," he asked her as he started to swing down the streets of New York at a much faster pace. "I do not concern myself with ludicrous works of fiction," she was unfamiliar with the 'lizard people conspiracy,' but it already sounded stupid.
"Ludicrous? You belong to a secret race of super-powered people and are currently soaring through the skies with a teenage boy dressed in red and blue spandex with spider-powers on a mission to find a possibly mutated scientist and you think the possibility that dragon-like, green-skinned aliens that can shapeshift, who could very well be living among us, is ludicrous?"
"Yes," she simply said.
"I'll remember that when the world is going to be invaded by shape-shifting aliens, and when that happens I will give you a fat 'I told you so,'" he couldn't wait for that day.
She simply rolled her eyes in slight annoyance.
"Where to now?" he asked her as they swung through Hell's Kitchen.
"Keep going forward for three blocks then turn left," she commanded.
He complied with her demands.
He didn't want to spend too much time here.
"What now?" he asked her as he made the left turn.
"Keep going forward," she flatly stated. She had quickly grown accustomed to web-swinging, it was due in part with him still going slow despite her saying it was alright. She didn't say anything because the pace was good enough.
She had found it almost relaxing to be soaring high in the air.
"Okay…" Peter said as he was going forward for quite some time.
"Keep going forward," she said again.
With how emotionless her voice could be he thought that she could make good money as a GPS voice.
Was that how she made all her money?
"For how long?"
"Until I tell you to stop," she said fiercely.
"And when does that happen?" he asked her as they continued to swing down the streets. "When I tell you to…" she started sniffing the air mid-speech as something caught her attention.
She smelt bodies…
"What is it?" Peter asked as he noticed her abrupt stop in speech. "Bodies, in that alleyway, to your right," she said as she pointed towards it. He looked at it and instantly changed course towards the alleyway she pointed at.
They landed in the alleyway where Laura immediately took the lead. The smell of bodies was faint, and it wasn't because of the overwhelming amount of blood. This could only occur if a body was placed and quickly lit on fire however she smelt no sign of one.
She turned the corner to immediately find what she was looking for.
"Is that…" Peter asked, his eyes wide as he looked at what was in front of them.
"Bones," she stated as she walked towards them. There were three sets of human bones lying on the ground, the meat on them all gone as if it was devoured.
"It did this," she stated as she detected The Lizards scent. Peter clenched his fist, "We have to stop it before this happens to anyone else." .
She agreed and wrapped her arms around his neck again as they prepared to leave the alleyway.
"That's the house," she stated as she singled out one of the many houses within the neighborhood they entered. He quickly stopped swinging and the two abruptly stopped in front of the average-looking home.
They both looked at it, observing the house. Peter noticed the few broken windows the house had, while Laura could smell the presence of multiple scents within it. Two belonged to the mother and the child, while three belonged to people she couldn't identify, with one just barely resembling The Lizard, however, it smelt like that of a regular human.
Peter's assumptions were correct
He walked up to the front door and urgently knocked as Laura looked around for bystanders or possible threats.
"Is anyone home?!" he asked but got no response.
"They are in there," she stated as the lack of a response could not fool her.
"We know you're in there!" Peter yelled as he kept on knocking.
They heard footsteps approaching the door but still no answer.
Laura went to go kick the door down but Peter stopped her, "Give it a second, if they don't respond we ca-"
His spider-sense went off.
He immediately tackled Laura to the ground before an array of bullets could hit either of them. Laura got up immediately and checked on Peter to make sure he wasn't hurt before angrily withdrawing her claws and kicking down the door, knocking it off the hinges with force that echoed through the house.
The blonde-haired woman that stood at the end of the hallway looked at her fearfully as she held a simple handgun pointed right at her.
"You're out of bullets," Laura said threateningly as she proceeded to menacingly walk towards the woman.
"But you're in luck," Peter said lightheartedly as he peered his head through the door.
Laura never took her eyes off the woman as she saw the head of Spider-Man poke through her door. "Oh my god," she said in shock as Peter walked through the door frame, looking at the door Laura kicked down with interest.
"Your door isn't though," he commented.
"It-it really is you," the woman said with disbelief as she dropped the gun as Peter picked up the door and webbed the hinges back together. He tried closing it, only for it to get caught by the top of the frame.
"I think you guys need a new door," Laura looked at him with a deadpan expression.
He had attached the door upside down.
"Oh, it's upside down, nevermind," Peter said as he recognized his mistake.
"That'll dissolve in an hour anyways," he said as he dismissed his mistake and proceeded to walk towards them.
"I'm-I'm so sorry," she said as she was quickly ashamed by her action.
"Eh, don't worry about it, everyone shoots at me so it's really nothing," he said as he brushed off some of the dirt that got on his newly refurbished costume.
"I see you've met my trusty sidekick," he said with a small snicker as he stood beside Laura.
She briefly turned her attention to glare at him before looking back at the woman.
She was an expert at practically everything, martial arts, stealth, assassination, and battle tactics to name a few.
She would not be reduced to the role of sidekick.
"I think you can figure why we're here," he told her as he put his arms on his waist, she nodded in response to this statement. "That 'thing' was your husband wasn't it?" he gently said as he slowly walked towards her.
She nodded
"He-they…" she tried to tell them but couldn't muster the words. Peter gently placed his hand on her shoulder, "Hey…it's alright, why don't we sit down somewhere and then you can tell us," he said light-heartedly.
She nodded and quickly brought them to the living room which had seen better days.
Peter got her seated while he and Laura decided to stand, he even had sheathed her claws to make it easier for the woman to feel safer.
She tried to tell them what happened but was once again at a loss for words. "Take your time, okay," Peter said softly, "We already know about your husband's research, and how he was kicked out of the university."
"How?" she asked him with surprise.
"I'm kind of a fan," Peter replied.
She looked at him with surprise again before taking her time to figure out what she was going to say. "He…He lost his right arm in an accident many years ago. He was right-hand dominant so the loss of it impacted him greatly…. It was the main reason why he went to school and got a doctorate in both biochemistry and biology. He saw it as his life's work, his purpose, to find a way to get it back. He spent most of his time observing Lizards as their regenerative capabilities allowed for them to grow back limbs with ease. He eventually presented his research to the university where they would decide to fund it, believing it to be 'revolutionary' if it were to succeed. If we could find a way to replicate the regenerative capabilities of Lizards then returning war veterans, victims of accidents or malicious actions would be able to regrow limbs that they have lost. He eventually created a serum that would accomplish such things and even tested it on rabbits but after…after the accident, they had deemed human testing to be too dangerous and effectively shut the project down," The woman explained, she then took another pause as she reluctantly continued to explain what would happen next. "After they shut it down, he was furious at them because he dedicated so much time, he had rectified his initial error, even enhancing the formula so that it would do more than just regenerate lost limbs. They wouldn't have it though…and they denied pursuing it; without the university's backing, he wouldn't be able to pursue his research but someone else had taken an interest in it... a-and had offered Curt a chance where the university didnt…" She said as she looked away from the two costumed super-teens within her living room.
"Who was it?" Peter asked with concern.
"He didn't give us a name… all he said was that he was interested in Curts work and that he would support it…" she fearfully said, however her words did not please Laura.
She was lying, and Laura would not be fed with false information.
"Name!" Laura impatiently demanded as she didn't have patience for liars. Her aggressiveness though caused the woman to slightly jolt up and Peter to whip his head in her direction.
"Hey, be gentle alright," he scolded her as he pointed right behind her.
She looked to see a little boy who was peeping his head into the room.
He was afraid of her.
"We're here to help, not scare them," Peter told her softly.
She paused for a moment, recognizing her mistake before mentally berating herself for letting her emotions get the better of her once again.
"The… Kingpin…" the woman said in a low and fearful tone. "He gave Curt the money, the resources, and asked him when he believed it would be ready. He said three months and they shook on it. The thing is…he underestimated the amount of time he needed. The Kingpin wasn't pleased and sent men to 'teach him a lesson.' He said that he would give Curt one more month and if he wasn't done by then, he would kill us. Curt knew that he wouldn't be able to finish it so he decided that his only option was to prepare himself for the incoming danger…" she trailed off.
"He decided to weaponize it," Laura stated as she knew that was the only logical course of action.
She nodded.
"Why didn't you just run?" Peter obliviously asked.
"Run? You can't run from the Kingpin, his criminal organization covers the whole entire country. The only thing Curt could've done was fight…he made sure me and Billy left the house before they arrived and when they did…he injected the serum into himself…." The bodies they saw in the alleyway were most definitely the Kingpin's men then. Peter clenched his fists, while he wasn't a fan of people dying, he could at least tolerate it being people who would murder a family.
At least that's what he told himself.
"We were driving for god knows how long. After a while, we stopped, and I tried calling him but nothing happened…I got worried, so despite his pleas for us to never come back, I did. That was when I saw him….I- I immediately drove off but he chased after us. The crash happened shortly after…and I'm pretty sure you know the rest…both you and her saved us," The woman finished as she held back tears as she looked at the two with gratitude.
It only lasted a second though.
"Is he still…" she weakly asked.
"He is," Peter said softly which caused her to cry.
"Hey, hey, hey," he said as he put an arm on her shoulder, "We'll fix this okay," he tried to console her however she angrily said, "How? You're just a kid!" she yelled as she brushed his arm off.
He took it and simply said, "A kid with spider-powers who also is a major in science."
She looked up at him with surprise "I-I didn't know…"
"It's alright," he said softly.
"You-You think you can create a cure? He-he has a lab upstairs," she asked with hope in her voice, "If you still have his notes, then maybe," he reassured her. She nodded and quickly got up, "Co-come here," she said as she guided them.
Peter followed, gesturing to Laura to follow suit.
She looked at him, maybe she wasn't much of the expert she thought she was as she watched him speak to the woman.
The woman brought them to Curt's lab where Peter looked at his notes with fascination, "This...this is amazing…" he said as he looked at them. "If he had more time he would've actually perfected this," Peter said to the woman.
"Can…can you make a cure?" she asked hopefully.
"Can I?" he asked excitedly as he looked at the notes, "I'm pretty sure I can," he confidently said as he looked at the tools at his disposal. The woman looked at him with her mouth wide before quickly running off, "I have to go tell my son," she said overjoyed as she left the room.
Laura simply walked towards him.
"Can you really make a cure?" she asked him as the skills required to do such a thing, with the equipment before them, was next to impossible for even the smartest of people.
"Yes, but it'll take time…" Peter said as he started to set up the professional-grade lab equipment.
"How much time?"
"Two hours, possibly three," he said as he started coming up with a plan. "We won't have that long," she said as she looked out. It was dark out. Lizards preferred the dark, it would only be a matter of time until it came looking for its family again, if it wasn't already.
"What are you getting at?" he said as he narrowed his eyes, not liking where this was going.
"We might have to kill it," she flatly stated, which caused Peter to drop everything he was doing and narrow his eyes at her recommendation.
"No," he firmly said to her. "We don't kill people. We save them," he adamantly said.
"Not everyone can be saved. You heard what she said, you've seen the bodies he's devoured. He's a monster," she stated as she recalled his bestial actions. "No, he's not. He's still a person and he's still in there Laura. If he wasn't, I doubt he'd be chasing after his family. He just needs a hand," Peter said strongly.
"If he is, he'd want us to kill him before he harms his family or anyone else," she said sternly as she raised her voice.
"Then we don't let him harm his family or anyone else," Peter said as Laura was not the only one getting heated.
"It is not that simple!" She yelled, "You don't know what it's like…being a monster," Laura said with, sadness trailing behind her voice.
"No, but I know what it's like to lose someone important. Do you?" Peter asked her softly, genuine emotion seeping his every word, his tone pleading her to see things his way.
She paused for a moment, wondering if she should even acknowledge the question, but then she thought about it.
And then she lowered her gaze, not wanting to see the reaction he might have to her answer.
"I…I do…"
Peter looked at her with a sincere gaze.
"I don't think I have to explain to you about how much it hurts then," She nodded at that, he didn't need to explain. She felt it every single day. "You know…I was responsible for losing the ones I care about," she looked at him with surprise as he disclosed this information to her.
She gave him a slight glance before looking away, "I...I was too…"
He looked at her with a soft expression that was hidden beneath his mask.
"Laura…would you, as someone who has suffered the loss of losing someone you care about, willingly inflict that pain onto someone else?" he asks her with the utmost emotion in his voice.
"...N-No…" she said as she shook her head.
She did not want to inflict that pain.
Peter let out a small smile at this.
He knew she'd say that.
"Doc Connors may be a monster, and he may have already killed people, and he may be too far gone, but he's still that boy's father. Still that woman's husband. Still a person, meaning he's still worth saving," Peter said with the utmost sincerity.
She paused for a moment, listening to every word he said, her stance on the Doctor quickly becoming more fragile.
"How...How sure are you that you can cure him?" she said as she looked back up at him.
"I can create a serum that can annihilate all the Lizard cells. Reversing the transformation," Peter stated if his reading of the Doctor's notes was correct.
"And what about the mental faculties?" Those were just as important as the physical body.
He didn't say anything at first.
"I…I don't know…but Laura, if there was even the slightest of chance that you could have prevented the person you lost, would you have taken it?" Peter asked as he knew what his answer was to that question.
"Yes," Laura said in a heartbeat.
They both turned their attention to the child who suddenly ran in the room, "Can you really save dad Spider-Man?" the boy asked with hope in his eyes as he looked at the hero.
"I can and I will," he said confidently.
He has to.
The boy smiled widely at this.
Laura looked at the boy who longed for his father's return, and she saw a girl who longed for her mother. She was suggesting that they should kill his father. She suggested inflicting the same pain that was done to her…
Maybe Logan was right…maybe the only thing she does know how to do is to kill…
She looked at Peter who started mixing chemicals together as the boy eagerly watched. The amount of time they had in creating a cure was completely unknown, but she knew that they had little time. Anything short of a genius wouldn't cut it, but Peter had an IQ of two-hundred and fifty…. Even if he reverts the transformation there were too many things that could go wrong, sure Connor's wouldn't be The Lizard anymore but what of the damage that it could have possibly caused to his mind? There were too many questions, too many unknowns and judging from his response, Peter knew these things as well, but he was still creating a cure because he hoped that everything would turn out fine.
She had killed her mother.
She had caused enough pain in one life.
And while she may find it hard, she would believe in the hope Peter held in both herself and in Connors.
"And I will help."
She moved next to Peter, scanning the doctor's notes with her green eyes as he looked at her with surprise.
The boy's smile grew larger.
"You said that you could create a serum that could reverse the transformation. To do that, you need the original serum first," Laura stated to Peter who was stunned at her actions. While not as well versed as Parker was in science, she was no idiot. She could still be classified as an expert.
Peter was still stunned as he watched her look at Dr. Connor's notes.
"I will work on that, while you work on the necessary compounds to create the cleanser," she told him as she set herself up.
"Y-Yeah…Alright, I'll get on that," Peter excitedly said as scrambled to get what he needed. "I didn't know you knew science," Peter said with astonishment.
"I know enough," she simply said.
"Wow…Spider-Man, your sidekick's awesome," the boy said much to her annoyance.
She was not his sidekick.
Peter let out a small laugh.
"She's not my sidekick," Peter said, which caused her to freeze in her spot as she anticipated his answer alongside the boy.
"She's my partner," he finished off with a smile.
"Partner," she thought.
She liked that.
"And she is pretty awesome. I'm glad I have her with me," Peter said sincerely as he gave her a small glance, she reciprocated it. She would have never imagined herself to be complimented in such a childish way, nor did she ever imagine to be touched so severely by such a compliment.
She was glad to have Peter with her too.
It took them an hour to create the cleanser. The way Peter went about things was simply ingenious as his approach saved them countless hours. She didn't know what had impressed her more, the way he went about creating it, or the way he treated the boy whose name is "Billy." He had noticed how Billy had a yearning gaze to help them and so Peter had offered him a chance too despite the boy's lack of knowledge in science. For the entirety that he allowed him to help, he explained every little thing in minute detail, but in a simplified way where the child could understand.
It was sweet.
It had strengthened her opinion of him.
The three of them stood in front of three vials full of the same compound, Connors had an excess amount of equipment and material allowing for them to create multiple serums which was her idea if anything went awry. All that was left to do now was to drop a tiny pellet that was currently inside each of their hands inside a respective vial, and if it turned green, then they succeeded in creating a cure.
Peter counted to 'three' and at the same time they all dropped the pellets into a respective vial.
They watched with anticipation as the pellets instantly dissolved, turning the compounds green.
"We did it!" he exclaimed to Billy as he got off his stool to hug the leg of Peter.
They did it.
He let out a nervous chuckle as he looked at Laura who had a softer look on her face as she looked at them.
He was so glad he had her with him.
When Billy pulled out from hugging him, Peter simply bent down and raised his hand up to the boy, "Give me a science five," he gently said to Billy who immediately high-fived him. He turned to Laura who still retained the softer expression and did the same gesture, reiterating the words "Science five?"
He watched with amusement as her expression instantly changed into that of a flat glare.
She would tolerate his childish antics, not take part in them.
"Science five?" Billy said as he looked at her with a smile.
She looked at it for many seconds before slowly bending down to the boy's level and reciprocating it.
"Oh come on!" Peter exclaimed with disbelief causing the boy to let out an innocent laugh.
As she looked at the boy who gave her a warm smile she couldn't help but smile as well.
This was what being a hero felt like, to have people look up to you, not in fear, but with joy.
She liked this.
Her nose caught a whiff of a familiar scent and she immediately put the boy behind her. She instantly unsheathed all her claws which briefly frightened the boy and instantly grabbed Peter's attention. "It's here," she stated, Peter nodded and immediately put a cork over one of the compounds and webbed it to his side.
The mother "Martha," immediately escorted her son to the safest place in the house as the two teen heroes rushed to face the monstrous doctor.
"Where's Lizzy?" he asked her as they bolted out the door.
"Two blocks west, closing in on us from the rooftops," she said as she detected the scent coming in at a fast rate. "Let's meet him head-on shall we?'' Peter said as he immediately jumped in the air and started to swing towards the creature.
He saw its green figure running on the rooftops on all fours. It abruptly stopped as it most likely detected his scent but lucky for him, it didnt know that he was above it. He fired a web line at the water tower it stood beside and with all his force he swung into the creature, forcefully sending it crashing to the streets below as he gracefully landed next to Laura who caught up with him instantly.
"Aye Rango!" Peter said as he pointed at the creature who was slowly getting up, "Remember us?" Peter said as he watched The Lizard slowly get up, only to leave him speechless.
"...Oh my God…"
It was eight feet tall now, prehistoric spikes decorating its tail and down its spine, ending at the top of his head, its talons were much longer now, and the jaw Peter blew off while saving Laura was fully healed, with the lower teeth now being too big to be kept inside its mouth.
"...zilla…" Peter finished as he was left speechless.
For about two seconds.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who got upgrades," Peter said as he entered a fighting pose.
She did the same, this would not be as easy as she suspected.
While manufacturing the cure Peter came up with a 'plan.' That 'plan' was to find a way to dump the vial down the Lizard's mouth. Which wasn't really a plan until she recommended that they cause an efficient amount of pain that would cause The Lizard to slow down and give them a brief moment to dump the cure down its throat without interruption, for if they missed even a drop of it, there could be consequences.
They must also cure him with all appendages intact or else the limbs might not grow back.
The sound of its animalistic roar was the bell that initiated the fight.
The Lizard ran at them on all fours.
Laura was going to play defensive until she could create a complete threat assessment on the Lizard. With its new form, it would stand to reason that there could be possible enhancements, she wanted to assess them before striking.
Peter had a different idea.
He recklessly went to immediately challenge The Lizard without knowing what it could do now.
He ran towards The Lizard and swiftly dodged it's clearly telegraphed punch and moved in closer to get a hit in but the Lizard dodged that as well. It went to strike him with its other hand but Peter dodged that, it didn't relent though, as it spun around and whipped its tail at him at lightning speeds.
Lightning speeds weren't new to him though and he dodged the attack but like the previous ones before it, The Lizard was too fast and spun around once again, thrusting its head towards him in an attempt to bite him. He managed to back away before swiftly webbing up its jaw and going between its legs, forcing it to land on its back.
Finally given a chance to attack, Peter took it and aimed to slam into the Lizards body, but as he jumped in order to do this it quickly got up and grabbed him by the neck before jumping high into the air. It held on to his neck as tightly as it could and let out a hateful roar as it viciously slammed his body down into the street below, using the momentum, its strength, and its body weight to completely crush him.
"Not a good start," Peter thought as he felt his body create a distinct imprint in the road. The Lizard roared in his face once more where he couldn't help but tell a joke upon smelling its breath, "Can you say halitosis?"
It punched him in the face, cracking his right lens.
"...I'll take that as a no," Peter said through the pain.
It got significantly stronger and faster too.
Laura let out an angry roar as she charged at The Lizard, it let go of Peter and spun around quickly in an attempt to backhand her but she swiftly dodged it, digging her claws deep into its arms and slicing through it and down to its torso as if it was butter. It tried striking her with its other arm but she rolled underneath it, gracefully going into a handstand where she used her foot claws to tear through its left popliteus causing it to slightly fall.
She then jumped on its back and stabbed it repeatedly causing it to howl in pain and move away from Peter's body in an attempt to get her off of itself. "Note to self: never get on her bad side," Peter thought as he got up to assist her.
The Lizard was spinning around as she proceeded to cut through his insides, waiting for Peter to strike him. She saw him running towards them and just as his fist collided with The Lizard's face, she jumped off as it was sent tumbling meters away.
"Ya like that? Cause I sure did!" Peter yelled towards the scaly monstrosity that was once a man. Laura landed next to him and watched how the damage she had inflicted to The Lizard was quickly being healed.
"It got stronger," she simply stated to Peter as she referenced its strength, speed, and regenerative power.
"What makes you say that?" Peter sarcastically asked her.
She wasn't amused.
"Its healing capabilities have increased greatly. Everything I've inflicted on it is quickly becoming undone. We need to bleed it out in order to negate its healing factor so we can tire it and end this," Laura simply explained, ignoring his sarcasm.
"Alright, so what we did last time basically. I hold it off while you do the snikting," Peter said as he understood what she was saying. "Yes," Laura simply replied as she was confident with her abilities to bleed the Lizard out.
Peter was glad at that. While he would love to use his stingers they would utterly destroy his web-shooters alongside the cartridges that are full of webbing. Both of which costed him an extreme amount of money.
He took a small step forward and in response to this The Lizard let out a growl.
"Oh what's wrong Lizzy? Scared? Is it muscles? The ladies always get nervous around the muscles," Peter said as he started flexing
Laura looked at him with a deadpan expression.
"What was he-"
In response to his antics the Lizard let out a roar and Peter immediately fired a web line at its mouth and ran towards it. "Got ya. Sorry, what was that? He asked as he yanked the line with all his might causing the Lizard to forcefully move towards him.
"I couldn't hear you over this!" He yelled as he hit the scaly monster right in its face causing it to be sent staggering back.
Somehow he had agitated The Lizard allowing for an opening.
Upon hitting the eight-foot monster Peter didn't waste the opportunity to hit it again. It tried sweeping him with its right hand after this but he simply dodged it and webbed it right to its face as it tried freeing its mouth. He ran at it again, and it tried hitting him with its free arm but he batted it away and once again punched it in its face with a little more force than last time so that it would twist, allowing for him to web its other hand to its back.
But as its body twisted the Lizard decided to go with it and spun its body around, whipping its tail at Peter who just barely dodged it after webbing its arm.
"Hey, gimme a hand," Peter tried to yell for an assist but Laura was already steps ahead of him as she ran past him and took advantage of the plenty of openings Peter had given her. She quickly and effortlessly decapitated its right arm as it was webbed to its mouth causing the Lizard to use all its might to break out of the webs that plagued it so that it could let out an agonizing roar upon losing an appendage.
Laura didn't waste time as immediately after decapitating its arm she used her claws to dig deep into its side and tearing chunks of it out. The Lizard didn't take this lightly though as it turned around to face the girl who dared to rip its appendage with a one-track mind on destroying her.
She had gotten a couple more attacks in but It simply took them, glaring at her as it focused on tearing its dangling arm off, growling fiercely in the process.
She let out a scowl, its regenerative capabilities were stronger than she thought, for immediately after decapitating its right arm, the wound closed up and just like before, all of the wounds she had inflicted were instantly regenerating.
The Lizard threw its dismembered arm at her and in response to this she simply clawed through it but that left her open to an attack from its tail.
It never came though.
"Uh, uh, uhhh, Lizzy, you seem to have forgotten that she isn't alone," Peter said as he caught its tail. She looked at the scene for a brief second before running towards Peter, slicing its tail off in the process and causing the Lizard to once again roar in pain.
Peter took a couple of steps back at this as he was holding the Lizard back with his strength. He looked at the now severed tail that was within his hands with disgust as it kept on flailing despite being severed.
"Ugh! Disgusting," he said as he hit The Lizard with its tail as hard as he could, causing it to stagger back. When this wasn't enough to cause it to fall he opted for a left hook which caused it to stagger again. He pulled back his right arm, bracing himself to hit it with as much force as he could possibly muster.
However, The Lizard had spun around and hit him with its fully grown right arm, which he saw coming by the way. Arguably the worst part and best part about his powers was his slow motion. He could see things go really slowly which was cool, it wasn't cool when all he could do was try his best to move out of the way only for him to ultimately know he's still going to get hit.
Immediately after it did this, just as she was reacting to it, The Lizard used its speed to grab Laura by the face and slam her to the ground before tackling Peter who was still staggering back from its attacks.
They crashed onto the ground and the Lizard immediately grabbed his wrists forcefully, using its might to crush his web-shooters.
This frustrated Peter greatly.
"These don't grow on trees," Peter yelled as he used both his legs to launch The Lizard off of him.
Peter looked at his web-shooters which were now completely busted and then back to Laura who was glaring at the monster. She underestimated its healing capabilities greatly, the fact that it could heal a full appendage in a matter of seconds was beyond what even she could do.
"I don't think it's bleeding out," Peter observed as it was growing back its tail at a rapid pace.
"By the time I inflict a wound another one heals. The decapitation of its limbs slows its healing factor down but it is still too fast for me to cause enough damage in order to overwhelm it," Laura said as her glare on the creature never wavered. It only changed when she heard an almost familiar sound come from beside her. "Well then, I guess it's a good thing you're not the only one who can 'snikt' things," Peter said with a smirk as he withdrew his stingers. "Although I think for me it's more like a 'schlikt,'" Peter said as he noted on the sound his stingers made.
"You think it'll be enough?" He asked Laura hoping that it would indeed push the odds in their favor.
"It would be more than enough," Laura said as she thought about how the fight would go if the Lizard had to deal with both her claws and his stingers.
The Lizard was glaring at them as its tail was rapidly regenerating back.
"That's good, now before we actually do this, could you give me some pointers on how to use these? If you haven't noticed, I'm more of a 'thwip, thwip' kinda guy," Peter asked as he hasn't really stabbed someone before. "Go for deep gashes and slashes, and be quick about it too. I'll try to decapitate its right arm while you do its tail. After that, our main priority should be to inflict as many wounds as possible," Laura planned out.
He let out a sigh.
"This is gonna be bloody isn't it?" he asked her already knowing the answer.
"Yes," she simply replied.
"I'm going to have to take a long shower after this," Peter said with dread.
"Yes."
"Do you know how expensive the water bill is?"
"No, but you can tell me about it when we are done with this," Laura said with a smirk before turning her attention to the eight-foot monster in front of them. "Well then partner, let's get this dance started shall we?" Peter said as he took the lead, Laura followed suit, letting out a roar as they charged at the monster in front of them.
The Lizard roared back as it lunged at them.
"Try something new already," Peter said as he jumped into the air meeting the lizard head-on. He impaled both his stingers through its collar bone and out its back before having the both of them tumble to the ground. While he was told that he could cut through most things with ease he was still surprised at the fact as to how effortlessly he pierced through the Lizard's thick hide. As he sent the Lizard crashing back down to the street he tried taking them out but found it a bit awkward to do so which allowed the Lizard to get a hit in. It followed this up by wrapping its tail around him and slamming him into the pavement, once again, creating an imprint of his body on the road.
He was really hoping that this wouldn't be a trend.
The Lizard turned its attention to Laura who had just arrived and let out a roar before going into combat with her. She let it have the first strike like she did before and dodged it with ease before countering. She knew that she was outmatched in every physical category so she opted to fight smart which was something the Lizard couldn't do. It savagely and brainlessly attacked her with everything at its disposal and she weaved through its attacks, delivering deep gashes in retaliation. The Lizard was speeding up the more it attacked her though and soon its attacks would just barely graze her, eventually its talons started ripping open her flesh and she grit her teeth as she retaliated with lacerating its flesh with just as much ferocity.
She was losing ground but that only lasted for a couple of seconds before two stingers pierced both of its shoulders.
"Let's try this again!" Peter yelled from its backside as blood from the Lizard got on his lenses.
Peter wasn't squirmish when it came to blood, his own or others. He's been covered with both multiple times and the mental scarring and fortitude needed was already there. He was used to it. What he wasn't used to was stabbing people but he was learning how to quickly. He backflipped off the Lizard's body as it tried grabbing him and with its focus on him Laura managed to deliver a massive gash to its side.
Peter followed this up by trying to do something risky. He jumped over the Lizard's body and did a twirl, delivering a deep diagonal gash down its chest, cutting it open with ease that surprised him.
He was starting to like his stingers.
While not the best strategist, Peter knew that by having one person cover the front while another covered the back would quickly overwhelm the Lizard.
Laura kept up with her offense as Peter was starting to find his. With each attack she noticed how the wounds started healing slower and slower, and it was getting slower and slower. Peter was following her advice, going for deep gashes and slashes and while the first couple were not as deep as she preferred, he would rectify that as he got more comfortable using them. They took turns with The Lizard's attention and Laura had found that Peter's speed and up-close style of fighting had complimented hers. She had already analyzed the way he fights, allowing her to maneuver around him without any complications. It was very instinctual, with everything he does seemingly coming up on the fly.
Peter was actually surprised as to how well this was going, but then again, every time they fought together they did kick The Lizards ass. Laura was fast, and she knew what she was doing, hitting vital parts that would hinder the Lizard even more. Laura had even managed to decapitate the Lizard's right arm with ease which gave him an opening to do the same to its tail. They continued on with their assault, noticing that with the decapitation of both its added appendages alongside the wounds they delivered, the healing factor was slowing down tremendously and so was its speed. It was so slow in fact that Peter started adding more flair with his dodges and attacks.
"When do you want to end this little dance of ours?" Peter asked as both he and Laura attacked the Lizard at the same time.
"Now would be good," she replied as she noticed that it wouldn't be able to compete with their efforts in curing it.
"Am I that bad?" Peter said with mock insecurity.
"End this and I'll tell you," Laura said as she sent a deep gash behind its knees causing it to fall on them.
Peter let out a shrug as he stood in front of the Lizard, "You heard the lady Lizzy," Peter said as he sucker-punched it, sending it on its back. "She wants it over and as the eligible bachelor that I am, I gotta comply," he said as he grabbed the cure from his side and popped the cover out.
"Saw 'aw'" Peter said with a smirk as he held its mouth open with one hand and dumped the cleanser in another. He dumped the whole entire compound down its mouth and flipped off its body as it started to spasm on the ground.
He gave a little glance at the sight and turned his attention to Laura.
"So how did I do?" he said with a smirk as he crossed his arms.
"Not bad," she replied with a smirk of her own.
"Not bad?" he offendedly said.
"It would have been better if you didn't run off ahead to immediately and recklessly deal with it on your own," she commented as she gazed at his white lenses. "Well, look, when you have a sixth sense that predicts danger you can get away with recklessness," Peter said back.
"Explain the craters in the street then?" she rhetorically asked.
"That was me warming up," Peter simply dismissed.
She raised a brow in complete skepticism.
"Okay look, maybe that was me being a bit dumb-"
"-A bit?"
"-but it all worked out, right?" Peter asked happily as he turned to look at the now cured Doctor Connors that was behind them.
He didn't see a cured Doctor Connors.
"It all worked out, right?" It took him a little while and a whole lot of blinks to register what he was seeing.
He saw a barely standing dinosaur letting out growls as its throat expanded. The wounds they had delivered were slowly healing as it seemingly prioritized its arm and tail.
"It didn't work out…" Peter said with shock as he took steps away from it. Laura did the same, unsheathing her claws immediately and watching as its throat kept on getting bigger and bigger.
"Hey…Hey…Hey… Lizzy, you know I was joking when I said try something new, right?" Peter asked the creature as it eventually regurgitated a green liquid.
It threw up the contents of the cure.
"Oh that's not good…," Peter said as he watched it glare at them, all of its wounds now fully healed, "... Oh that's really not good."
He turned his attention to Laura, "We made spares right?" he worryingly asked hers as his spider-sense began blaring.
"Yes…." Laura said as The Lizard was slowly walking towards them.
"You don't happen to have one on you do you?" he asked her hopefully.
"No."
"%&*#," was all Peter could say.
The Lizard instantly dashed at the two with Peter managing to dodge it thanks to his sixth sense and powers, however, Laura wasn't so lucky as she was grabbed by the abdomen, its talons piercing her body before she was viciously thrown down the street. With her out of the way, The Lizard focused its attention on Peter whose gaze was on Laura with extreme worry.
He turned his attention to the Lizard just as it was going to attack him and grit his teeth in anger before meeting it head-on instead of dodging the attack.
"You're really starting to tick me off, you know that?" Peter frustratingly said as he clashed with the eight-foot reptile. It hissed in his face as it tried attacking but peter dodged it and landed a hit of its own which caused it to stagger back. " And I can tell I've ticked you off too. Is it because I took off your jaw?" Peter asked as it relentlessly went to attack him.
He angrily batted the attack away.
"Well guess what? I'm going to do it again!" Peter angrily yelled as he used the might he could muster to punch its jaw. A loud 'thud' could be hurt as his fist came in contact with the lizard's mouth. The hit shattered some of its teeth but it didn't take off its jaw, the most it did was recoil its head.
Peter swore that if it could smirk, it would, as in that moment it retaliated with a punch that knocked all the wind out of him. It then turned around to meet Laura who was running at it. She managed to dodge its first initial hit just barely and land a deep gash on it but before she could even react, it punched her right in her stomach, shattering almost all of her ribs before delivering a punch to the face that had the same intensity that it had hit Peter with.
She didn't have superhuman durability though.
A loud 'thud' could be heard on impact.
But it was overshadowed by a sharp snap.
The sound of her neck snapping….
The dazed Peter watched in shock as her body lifelessly fell to the ground.
His blood-curdling scream followed the silence.
"Laura!" He yelled as he hit The Lizard with everything he got in a desperate attempt to go to her side. He ran to her, his heart beating uncontrollably as his mind wouldn't comprehend what just happened. "No, no, no, no, no…" he said urgently as he ran to her side but the Lizard's giant hands grabbed him before he could do such a thing. "No! Laura!" he yelled again as he looked at her lifeless body completely ignoring the creature.
It hit him with all its might, leaving him completely dazed and cracking the other lens.
It whipped his body across the street as if he was a stone getting skipped.
He kept his eyes on her lifeless body though.
The sky was blue now.
He was on a bridge….no…he was on a street….it was dark…
There was Laura…Gwen…Laura…Gwen…
There were primal red eyes glaring at him, yellow ones maliciously laughing…
There was a snap…
…it was his fault….
It was his fault….
He could feel something heavy land on him. He could see that malicious smile as he felt himself getting beaten.
He could hear laughter.
"She's dead Spider-Man, the girl you love is dead! and there's nothing you or any other costume interloper can do to bring her back. But don't worry, you won't be long apart!"
He deserved this.
"That is what you get for being weak!"
He's such an idiot.
He never learns.
How many people had to die because of him?
Captain Stacy.
Gwen.
Laura…
She had nothing to do with this. She wasn't someone who supported him, she wasn't anyone he knew, she was just someone who was minding their own business until he had roped her into this mess of his.
This couldn't be real. This had to be a dream, some nightmare.
Why did the people he cared about always have to die? Why couldn't he be the one who died instead? He deserved it, he got his uncle killed, he got Gwen killed, he got Laura killed…how much longer did Aunt May have?
He's such an idiot, he never learns.
Everyone who gets close just dies.
Past the blood and behind the Lizard he could see Laura. She was standing, her neck still twisted as she faced him.
She was letting out growls and snarls and all he could do was succumb to the overwhelming sadness.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said as he felt the Lizard still pounding his soon to be corpse. He didn't want her to die, he never thought she'd die, she was a super like him. She was different, she was different…
Her neck unnaturally cracked as it seemingly undid the damage that had been done to her.
He could see blood-red eyes full of rage.
She had every right to be angry at him.
He failed her…he failed everyone…
Much to his surprise though The Lizard had stopped beating him and had turned around to face her.
"...what…?" he weakly said.
He could feel his heart start beating faster and his breathing pick up pace as he looked at her. She was dead, her neck snapped, she was supposed to be dead, she was supposed too…
"I heal quickly."
His eyes widened underneath his damaged mask.
She was alive.
She was alive.
She was…
She unsheathed her claws and from her mouth came the most vicious howl he's ever heard.
"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"
