Metamorphosis
Inumaru Maasa happily hummed to herself.
With a knife, she sliced some meat for dinner.
Maasa had just arrived home with little Taiten, fresh from school. The wife awaited her love, who would be coming home from work any moment soon. She didn't believe to have much reason to worry.
She often wondered what it was her husband was really up to though. Kuruto would never get into detail about what research he was doing, who the company hired him was, or about any co workers. The most she had was a brief glimpse of DNA files on different types of lizards Maasa spotted on his desk one time.
It made Maasa recall a memory from a time ago.
She and Kuruto sat together in a picnic. They overlooked a shiny lake on a bright sunny day. The man rubbed his leg, wistfully looking up to the sky. It was here when he told her about how he had been at a party during Second Impact. The house was utterly destroyed and his leg was trapped in some of the rubble. Fortunately he had managed to survive. His leg unfortunately had to be surgically removed.
With that in mind, Maasa presently had a guess as to why his research would include lizards.
If it was true… well, she wished him all the luck. There was so much pain in this ruined world. If her husband could find a way to restore his leg, countless others would be able to get similar treatments. Anything to soothe humanity's ills in this cruel planet.
She heard the front door slam open.
"Mom! Dad is hurt!"
At that, she turned around. Her eyes widened in shock as she ran to Taiten's aid.
Professor Kuruto Inumaru was lying on the floor. Maasa could see massive blood stains on his lab coat, the clothes having been ripped apart in a lot of places. She was able to notice the presence to scales around parts of the skin she could see.
"KURUTO!" Maasa shouted. She had many questions as she held her husband in her arms. "What happened? Was there an accident in the lab? We need to get you to a hospital right now!"
Kuruto managed to raise his head to meet his wife's worried face. His eyes were wide in fear.
"Maasa… Taiten… please…"
His eyes dilated.
"…run…"
"Did you guys hear? Yashida's been arrested!"
The students were flocked together. Last night, Kenichiro Yashida, head of the Yashida Company had been arrested by the police due to recently discovered ties to the Kuzuryu criminal organization, as well as evidence he had been responsible for the recent super villain phenomenon sweeping the city.
Many breathed a sigh a relief, believing the ordeal was over.
Shinji Ikari wanted to believe that. He did.
"Something doesn't feel right…" the boy said to himself.
Doubt was the poison that strangled the hopes of man. Sure, Yashida was arrested and hopefully crime will be reduced. but there was no mention of the super villains brought forth. Rhino, Shocker, the Shiraishis…
Shinji couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding… something wasn't right about this at all. If the police had done a thorough investigation, wouldn't they know more things Yashida did?
"Just my imagination… but isn't this a little too easy?" He asked.
Shinji resolved not let himself go down dark paths. He would talk to Professor Inumaru today and ask him what he knows.
The door opened, but a stranger walked through.
"Excuse me students." The stranger spoke. "your regular professor will not be teaching today. I will take over as your substitute."
A random student raised their hand.
"Why is that sir?"
The adult sighed. "Kuruto Inumaru is missing. His family had been found dead in his house and the police are on the look out for him. They think he committed the murders but no one knows for sure. In the mean time let's get back to class"
Doubt can be either a poison or a medication.
In this case Shinji now became alert to the situation.
'What? That doesn't seem right.' He thought to himself. In all the times we talked the professor was worried about what would happen to his family. Did…?'
Shinji clenched his hands. 'Did they get to him? Did they find out his connection to me?'
The boy would find no answers here.
Once class ended, Spider-Man would have to find them himself.
The duality of a secret identity was one Shinji had become intimately familiar with over the months that spanned his career as a costumed vigilante.
As fourteen year old Shinji Ikari, he would be dissuaded from entering a crime scene by the police, who feared possible evidence contamination and wouldn't take him very seriously.
As Spider-Man… well, he would probably get shot for even coming close.
Even so, the fabulous wall crawler clung to a nearby lamppost to observe the Inumaru residence which at the moment was surrounded by police officers. There wasn't much he could tell from the spot. All the bright lights coming from the cop cars are just too shiny for this fella.
With that, he launched a web line and swung a little closer, landing right beside some bushes. They were conveniently high enough that no one could see him. The sounds and conversation were loud enough that no one could hear him either.
Spider-Man looked around from his spot. It was in this closer area that he noticed a dangerous prospect.
Yashida Company vans. With several employees in jumpsuits outside talking to officers.
'Very suspicious… maybe Inumaru had been caught?' Shinji thought. 'They could be here to remove any evidence of anything they did.'
He then heard a pair of footsteps. Retreating a bit, Shinji kept his ears sharp. He saw the steps belonged to a pair of officers. They were holding a conversation while holding coffee. The boy listened in…
"I dunno… I never liked the slimy bastard but I don't think Inumaru would just kill his own family like that." said one of them. "That's like the one thing he never complained about?"
"Maybe he had something to hide. You never know with those nerdy types." said the other cop, who had a mildly disgusted tone. "I don't particularly care for low life scum. Least of all anyone on Yashida's payroll."
It seems they found out about that at least. Shinji continued listening.
"Yeah… strangest thing is that they weren't killed by any known murder weapon like knives or bullets. We found traces of scales on their wounds."
"Seriously? Scales? The fuck, is this some new super villain on the loose?"
"We found similar traces on foot prints around the neighborhood. I'm having our forensics boys take a look at 'em and figure it out what they could be."
"God, every day it just gets weirder and weirder. First Spider-Man, then Rhino, then Sandlady and Electro, fucking Doctor Octopus. What kind of world are we living in?"
"Hell if I know. We just gotta adjust somehow."
Spider-Man tuned out the rest of the conversation. Scales… What the hell happened? Was it some sort of experiment gone wrong? They said they found footprints around the neighborhood. Maybe he should start there.
Shinji felt a sense of dread.
'This is all my fault… I need to help Inumaru any way I can!'
With that, he launched a web line and swung to track down the professor.
Whatever happened to Inumaru, he wasn't that hard to track down.
Leaving aside the footprints left behind on the pavement (with terrified civilians trying really, really hard not to walk on them), there were some pieces of ripped clothing left on the street, which Spider-Man was able to easily use to find the path.
The path took him to an alleyway. Aside from the usual feeling of disgust one would expect from smelling the feces in such a place, there was a minor change in the environment.
Namely a hole where a sewage opening would be.
'This must be where the professor went.' Shinji confirmed to himself. He got on all fours and climbed in.
He stuck to the ceiling. If the feces was strong on the street, then down here was much worse. A combination of horrible, filthy smells filled the boy's nostrils, giving him the urge to just vomit everywhere. Not that it would help. If he did that all he would do is contribute to the horrid odor of the Kokoro sewer system.
Spider-Man saw claw marks on the walls. 'He's here somewhere… I need to find him.'
At this moment, Shinji involuntarily thought about a concept he remembered from class. The Hedgehog's Dilemma. As the saying went, hedgehogs in the winter huddle together to keep warmth, but their sharp spines would only hurt them instead. They could not closer or else they would harm each other.
"PROFESSOR!" The boy shouted. "Where are you?"
The boy wondered if he had stayed away from Inumaru, if he had kept any contact minimal, would any of this even had happened? Would the professor's family be alive happy and free? Would Inumaru been left alone?
A loud growl echoed through the tunnels.
"I was at your house… your family!" Shinji cried out. "What happened?"
He could not make another mistake. Not after Yamashiro. Not again.
First there was a snarl… then a throaty, groaning voice was heard.
"My fault…"
Spider-Man was glad he heard something, but was confused. "Your fault? What do you mean?"
A loud slam boomed over the tunnel, causing it to shake.
"My family… dead… my fault…" A slithering tone whispered through the tunnel. "They're all dead because I helped you… because I helped HIM."
Shinji felt a stab in the heart. He continued though, "Help who?"
"He did this…" Inumaru said. "That man… he gave me… a serum of my work… with YOUR blood… and turned me into this…"
The boy heard sobs.
"They're all gone… they took away my family… I know what to do now…"
Spider-Man felt a growing sense of foreboding. "Please, professor, don't do something you're going to regret."
"He took my Maasa! He took my Taiten!"
The boy saw a shadow on the wall. It was big… and inhuman. As he got closer, the shadow moved away.
Before he could respond, Spider-Man felt something grabbing his head and slam him into a wall. His eyes were able to see him.
Or rather… it.
A monster had replaced the good professor Inumaru. In his place stood a tall, scaly reptilian man, with a long tongue, golden eyes full of hate and fear, and large claws on his fingers.
"I SHALL TAKE HIS DAUGHTER! YAMAGISHI WILL PAY FOR HIS SINS! SO SAYS… THE LIZARD!"
He threw Spider-Man into the sewer waters, jumping away and crashing through the ceiling.
Shinji got himself out of the water. He knew that the first thing he had to do when getting home was cleaning this outfit, but that wasn't particularly important right now.
When he heard Yamagishi's name, the boy didn't need his spider-sense to know what was gonna happen next.
Mayumi Yamagishi looked up to an unfamiliar ceiling.
A book on her chest, she lied in her bed reminiscing of the past. For much of her short life, she felt utterly alone. Her father was often away to deal with strange men in suits, keeping her away like Rapunzel on a tower, isolated from the world around her. The life of blank walls and purposeless days was draining and exhausting. It was miraculous when Tachiagaru let her enter regular middle school away from the compound. That day would lead to her encounter with one Shinji Ikari.
Shinji… that boy had defended her that day. Even once she got adjusted to life in school he was the only one she considered a friend. Far too shy or too caught up in her own worries to make connections with anyone else. She enjoyed his company at lunch and in the library, and the few times they went out together were joyous.
Her admiration only enhanced yesterday. Her father told him the truth and yet Shinji did not care. He stayed and took a picture with her. Right then and there, Mayumi decided that he was someone she could rely on.
But he doesn't know the full truth, does he?
'I can't tell him…' She thought.
There was a secret she hadn't told her friend. Mayumi figured that if he knew out the truth about her birth… about where she really came from… He'd be disgusted.
Because she was disgusting.
A disgusting little creature.
A disgusting, cowardly, sneaky dishonest little piece of-
THUMP
"WAAH!" Mayumi squealed in shock.
She jumped from her bed and looked around her room. All quiet, nothing seemingly there. Her balcony was open, the breeze controlling transparent sheets to block any view. Frightened, she found herself staring at it.
A large outline appeared through the sheets.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Spider-Man heard the scream far too late.
Over The Lizard's shoulder was Mayumi, who from what Shinji could see was in shock. The creature jumped from the balcony onto a rooftop, Spider-Man deciding to give chase.
He was determined not to let Inumaru get away with her.
Problem was that the creature was surprisingly fast for a big Lizard man. Perhaps the product of experimenting with different types?
'No time for questions, Ikari.' Spider-Man admonished himself. 'Don't get distracted when your best friend might get killed!'
Eventually Spider-Man chased the Lizard to a rundown neighborhood. Abandoned factories and warehouses littered the area, no doubt left behind from the early remains of Nagano Kokoro is based on.
The Lizard stopped on top of one such building. He- no, it Shinji said to himself- punched a hole into a wall. He entered it without a second thought.
Shinji followed, wondering what that particular building might have been used for. He steeled his nerves and travelled through the hole.
There was nothing particularly noteworthy about this place. It was a large warehouse with boxes and dirty floors. Shinji fan a finger through one of the boxes, cringing internally. On any other occasion he would want to inspect this place and clean it thoroughly. Yamashiro taught him the value of a good clean environment, and that was one lesson he took to heart!
Before he could get distracted, he saw another hole in a wall. This time he saw the sign next to it.
Yashida Company.
'One of their hidden bases no doubt.' Shinji thought to himself. 'Why here though?'
He did not question further. Mayumi was still in danger!
Spider-Man went through that hole, and sure enough he found himself inside a more modern complex. The hallway is more recent, which he could tell from the shiner metallic covering of the area. However, any presence of life seemed absent.
He walked down the abandoned facility. There was a foreboding quietness in the place. He took a step. And another… and another… he reached the end of the hallway. He turned to the left-
Dead bodies littered the corridor. They were horribly slashed and gutted, strung up to the ceiling by cables or lying motionless on cold steel. There were even some quiet moans coming from a few.
"My God…"
Shinji felt an urge to vomit. For the briefest of seconds, he back at an alley way where the Vulture savagely ate away some unlucky criminal, how he just stood there and witnessed it. This was a hundred times worse. That was only one body. This was about a hundred more souls he didn't know.
The only reason he wasn't barfing up a storm was because Mayumi was still in trouble.
Mayumi!
He focused on the task at hand. From what he could see, the bodies had been here since yesterday. That meant Inumaru had been here before. Maybe whatever happened to him happened in this place.
'Why lure me here though?' Shinji wondered. 'Was there something he wanted…?'
Ultimately, Spider-Man came across a large steel plated door. There didn't appear to be any locks or mechanisms to open it on this side, except for a lone scanning console to the right.
The door opened, and the boy's spider-sense started tingling.
This was it. No time for breaks. Shinji took a peek inside.
What the room was was a large jungle. Trees, vines and grass were everywhere… but it didn't quite look right. One could tell without much thought that this was man made, clearly made to resemble an environment fit for various Reptilian types.
Spider-Man took a few steps.
Inside a place like this, there were many places where the Lizard could be hiding in. Spider-Man hoped Inumaru was still in that monster somewhere. If he wasn't…
Shinji walked around, trusting his spider-sense to alert him of any danger. Soon enough he heard rustling.
"I know you're here Professor!" He shouted. "Let Yamagishi go! We can figure something out!"
More rustling. This time accompanied with a loud growl.
The boy clenched his fists. "I'm sorry! I should have listened to you… your family didn't deserve what happened to them! You don't deserve what happened to you! You shouldn't have gotten hurt… I'm so sorry, please come here! We can fix this!"
Then Shinji spotted her.
Mayumi Yamagishi, lying on the floor with her eyes closed. She was unconscious, but nothing suggested she was injured.
"MAYUMI!" Shinji shouted. He couldn't help himself as he ran towards her.
Just then, a familiar headache entered his skull.
Spider-Man moved out of the way of a lunge attack from his left, dodging a swipe of a clawed hand.
No guesses as to where the attack came from.
"Grrrrrrr!" The scaly Lizard creature snarled in rage. He tried to swipe at Spider-Man again.
"Professor! Please stop this!" Shinji yelled out, but to no avail. "It doesn't have to be this way!"
The Lizard said nothing. His… no, It's… instincts have taken over the mind. All it could think at the moment was the complete destruction of Spider-Man, a prey that ruined the life of one Kuruto Inumaru one time too many!
The Lizard's attacks moved with ferocity and viciousness. All instinct and no brains. Shinji realized it as he bare dodged the claws. Lizard may have more power, but Shinji was faster and had the advantage of a sane and coherent mind.
The boy has the experience of fighting super villains before. In each of those fights he used the environment to his advantage. What could he use?
He jumped away and moved further into the jungle.
The Lizard's ire grew. No, this won't do a one bit!
It jumped towards the path, aiming to catch the little spider that dared to run away. It landed harshly, turning it's nose to smell the terrain eager to find a scent.
It sniffed and sniffed, searching for the elusive prey that oh so gleefully ruined it in a past life.
All of a sudden, The Lizard felt something heavy drop on him! A tree fell on top of it keeping it down. Perpetually angry, The Lizard slashed the tree with it's claw, getting back up.
Then, a kick from behind it's head! The Lizard was knocked through several trees into somewhere else… a small clearing, with a nice lake close by.
Spider-Man chased after it. He launched webs into it's mouth, running his fists violently through it's head. Lizard heard this costumed brat's voice but couldn't make out what was said. More pleas for attention he assumed. He-no it- had to silence him forever.
The creature grabbed Spider-Man, dragging the web swinger into the lake. Inside the water is when lizards are the fastest, the Lizard doubted Shinji Ikari could say the same. Indeed, Spider-Man struggled to even move as the Lizard grabbed his neck and tried to choke his life out. He looked up to see the Lizard's sadistic grin looking down on him. Each punch Shinji sent had no effect, it just continued squeezing for dear life. He had to get out of there somehow. He couldn't die here!
Spider-Man swam then. He made it to a corner and took advantage of the stones behind him. Using his legs, he propelled both himself and the Lizard up into the air. They swiftly bursted out of the water like flying bullets.
Shinji had no time to waste. As soon as the Lizard's grip faded from his neck, he launched to the offensive. Spider-Man shoved the Lizard onto a tree, punching and punching and punching. Not giving it the slightest edge in this fight, just whamming it into the tree.
This time, something in the Lizard's eyes changed. Shinji felt something grab his neck. The Lizard used its tail, throwing Ikari away from itself. It ran off from the scene.
"Not again!" Spider-Man shouted, launching a web line. No time to waste, he's going to catch up to the Lizard one way or another. The creature was fast though. It moved past Mayumi, and used it's body to burst through another wall.
Shinji was surprised at that. However, he stopped when he noticed something about Mayumi. Namely that she seemed to be waking up.
Mayumi had no idea where she was. She laid on the ground, a breeze sending shivers down her body. She was shocked at the grassy floor she felt with her hands. She was even more shocked when a familiar costumed vigilante landed right in front of her.
"Spider-Man! What are you doing here?" she asked. Then the memories hit. "Wait… That thing-!"
"It's okay May-Yamagishi." Spider-Man said. "You're safe now."
He wrapped Mayumi around in a hug. The poor girl returned it, hoping for any sort of reprieve from the nightmare she landed into.
"Where… where are we?" She asked the web swinger. Then Mayumi sniffed. "and why do you smell so awful?"
Spider-Man looked up at her sheepishly. "Umm… I went for a swim in sewer water before getting here. Anyway, I think this is some a lab Yashida kept a secret. I don't know why that lizard thing wanted me here but- anyway, stay here. That thing could attack you at any time so hide somewhere safe okay?"
Mayumi was not about to argue with the man who saved her life twice now. She nodded.
Mayumi walked to a near by bush. Satisfied, Spider-Man looked at the hole lizard just dug through. Time to end the chase.
He went through the hole… only to be shocked at what he saw.
Much like the hallways before this point, there were corpses. Corpses of misshapen forms and ruined bodies. These were lizards, Shinji realized. All in mutated forms similar to Inumaru, but not quite. Clearly they were prototypes for the serum Inumaru was working on. Looking around, Shinji saw capsules that contained white material. It was being twisted and bent, being processed into a liquidated form, being sent somewhere through the tubes.
Spider-Man shuddered to imagine what that could be.
For a while, it seemed that was all the room was. A macabre exhibition of science built on death. Then a flickering light was seen overhead,
Shinji was able to witness the Lizard messing around with a large computer screen.
"Inumaru!" Spider-Man was about to punch it when the Lizard raised a hand. It was a motion to stop.
For some reason, Shinji did. Not for the first time, he was confused.
The Lizard continued. It- no… he- typed something into the keyboard. On the screen various computer files started opening up.
First was an image of… something being pulled up by cranes. According to the text, the thing on the screen was found on an island recently dubbed the Savage Lands. The subject had apparently mutated a once barren location into a fountain of weird and unusual wildlife, including long extinct species like dinosaurs. The subject was identified as the Second Angel, Lilith.
'Second Angel?' Shinji thought. 'What do they mean by Angel? What happened to the first?'
The second file opened was Lilith in full view. A white human shaped being with a mask tied to a cross. The boy shuddered at it. What was that thing? Another picture in the file showed the Angel's legs being cut off, the text explaining a transfer to Kokoro.
The third file showed HERZ being given the task to study the legs. In exchange for research, NERV could use whatever they found for the Evangelion project currently being worked on in Tokyo-3 and other locations around the world.. They also had access to create weapons for governments. It was theorized that Lilith's DNA was fundamentally compatible for all sorts of life on Earth, which made it easy to splice the DNA of animals with that of humans.
'Is that why the spider…?' Shinji realized, grabbing his hand.
The fourth file showed the various results of the experiments done. They were listed from latest to earliest. First as the various super villains (which made Shinji clench his fists); then the spider and possible theories on how Spider-Man worked (which made Shinji panic a little); then the lizards came, the one Inumaru had worked on. Then…
Test Subject: Mayumi Yamagishi.
"No…"
Infiltration and Destruction Unit. Calming Influence. Sent to spy on The Third Child, Ikari Shinji.
"No please no." Shinji denied it.
How could he not? If he were to accept it… then it would have been a lie.
A pair of hedgehogs could not come together in the winter or their spines would hurt one another. The closer you are... the harder it hurt.
The Lizard pressed one more button.
SELF DESTRUCT ACTIVATED!
"Wait, what are you doing?" Shinji moved to stop Inumaru, The professor however motioned him to stop.
"G… go…" He growled. "Will… join… Maasa and Taiten… soon… Explosion only kill… monster…"
Shinji refused to give up. "No! We can fix you! I can help you!"
But Kuruto Inumaru already made his choice. He whacked Shinji with his tail, sending him to the wall.
"Go… little… insect… you did enough..." He said firmly. There was no compromise,
Sadly, the boy tried to raise a hand up… but found no words to say. He blinked away any tears he had. He only walked outside.
He heard an explosion go off when he saw Mayumi Yamagishi running toward him.
"Spider-Man, did you get him? Is he dead?" Mayumi asked quietly.
Spider-Man did not answer.
"Let's go Yamagishi."
Mayumi was surprised by the tone in which he said it, but said nothing herself. Perhaps the fight took it out of him. "Thanks."
He swung with her back to the apartment. He went the whole trip without saying anything.
The next day, Mayumi immediately made her way towards Shinji. She was still rattled from last night's debacle, remembering the Lizard's snarling face and the claws surrounding her…
She was scared.
Spider-Man had acted weirdly towards her too. Mayumi needed to see her friend or else she might go mad.
Soon enough, she spotted the boy sitting on their table, listening to something on his S-DAT player with his earphones.
"Shinji!"
She called out to him as she sat. He turned towards her,
"Last night was an utter nightmare, Ikari." Mayumi started. "I was attacked by some kind of creature but Spider-Man saved me again! I was so scared though, I couldn't sleep at afterwards-"
It was then Mayumi noticed the boy was staring at her with a strange almost unreadable expression. As if a dam was waiting to burst.
"Something wrong?" She asked.
Without so much as a response, Shinji got up… and left.
And once again Mayumi felt like Rapunzel, locked in her tower… isolated from the world around her.
Author's Notes:
We're reaching the beginning of the end, people. Or at least the end of this story arc. To be honest I was surprised by all the comments hating on Inumaru. I mean, sure he wasn't really a nice guy but one would think a guy who's concerned about his family would be a touch sympathetic to most people. Hopefully this chapter'll make you feel for him a little.
His character was inspired by the Lizard from the 70's Spider-Man manga, on which this chapter is loosely based on. Both have Inumaru as a last name, which is about their only similarity as characters. Otherwise I tried to go for something more unique with this iteration of the Lizard, having this sort of reluctant mentor character that Shinji ends up being partly responsible for. A good man stuck on a bad path by forces outside of his control was the intent, although readers may disagree with that XD
Anyway time to answer reviews:
Kami Blanco: Sorry, but Jameson isn't going to be in this story. I just don't see a natural way to fit him in the plot, especially since we're gonna be heading into Eva territory later. Maybe some cameos as a radio newscaster, kinda like in PS4 but don't expect too much.
Jackpot: Well Yashida is kinda like the Kingpin. Or rather, he has the role of the Kingpin. He has the criminal overlord thing Fisk has, he's just combined with the Silver Samurai since the setting is in Japan and it'd be sort of weird to have American characters in such a setting. It's why I had new characters be Spider-Man villains instead of using Adrian Toomes as Vulture and stuff. As for what kind of guy says his daughter was born in a test tube, you'll see next chapter :)
Morphing Morning: You're right, last chapter was really more of a breather after that Akagi two parter. Hopefully this chapter makes up for that!
SuperiorSuperman: You're not wrong about the SEELE connection :)
Stay tuned for next chapter: Mayumi.