Reptilian Madness Part 1
They say the foundation of science is built upon risk. How are we to discover something new if we don't risk the possibility of failure, or the risk of ruining oneself, or even risking our very sanity for the purpose of breaking barriers. To push the fundamentals of what science can truly achieve.
That's what Dr. Connors is hoping to achieve this day, as he stood in his basement's laboratory, where he conducted an experiment he's been working on for years. Pushing boundaries.
He took a vial out of a centrifuge that just got done spinning, gazing at the glowing green liquid within it, and placing it into a syringe. Ever since that incident with Octavius, the work he's been doing on his formula has yielded positive results. Everything appeared to be stable, and no signs of side effects through virtual simulations, which is more than he could say for past simulations.
Connors looked at the table and eyed a white-furred lab rat he's taken care of for a while, with a key notable feature about the animal being it had one of its front legs missing.
"Okay...first live test." Connors mumbled to himself. He approached the cage and opened it, picking the rat up, before injecting it with the syrup. The little rodent screeched in pain, at first, but then he settled down, letting Connor's place it back in its cage. "Okay...now we just wait."
"Curt! Can you come up from under there!"
"Coming, honey!" Curt called out, taking off his lab coat and hanging it up.
He soon exited the basement and made his way to the living, but paused to look at some old photos hanging up along the wall. One particular photo showed him years ago holding his son, back when he had both his arms.
'I'm almost there. I can have those moments again.' Curt thought to himself, before he made his way into the living room. There, he saw his beautiful wife sitting on the couch, but what made his eyes widen in shock was that who was sitting across from her on the opposite chair.
This person was an elderly man with short grey hair, wearing a brown coat and had a cane to his side. He gave off a friendly demeanor, but the look in his eyes when he saw Curt was one of disappointment.
"Look who came to visit us." Martha Connors, a woman with short red hair and green eyes, said happily. "Our old college professor."
"Oh...I see." Curt said with surprise, but tried to give a friendly smile. "Doctor Langstrom, it's been a long time."
"Yes, it has." Langstrom said with a nod. "I hope you don't mind me dropping in."
"Absolutely not." Martha said happily. "I just wished you would have called us sooner. I could have prepared something for all of us to enjoy."
"Oh, there's no need to go so far." Langstrom said with a chuckle.
"Still, this is quite a surprise." Curt said as he sat down next to his wife. "I thought you said that you never wanted to come back to Gotham."
"Well, when you retire from teaching, you tend to have some free time on your hands." Langstrom said with a shrug. "So, I heard you two have a son. Where is the little guy?"
"He's over at a friends house, but he should be back soon." Martha said, before she stood up. "I think I might have some sandwiches for us, in the meantime, plus I'll get us some drinks."
As soon as left for the kitchen, Langstrom took on a hard stare and glared at Connors, causing the later to actually look a bit nervous. "Let's cut to the chase, Connors. You know why I'm here."
"Professor Langstrom, I can explain." Curt said nervously.
"Explain what? Explain how you stole my notes years ago? Stole the base composite for the serum I worked on decades?" Langstrom asked sarcastically, while still glaring at the nervous scientist. "No, I want you to explain to me why you want to dig up something I have tried to bury my entire life."
"Why? Because your notes could benefit so much for all of mankind." Curt said, trying to explain his actions. "Professor, your gene splicing of animal DNA into humans could revolutionize modern medicine. I thought that I could experiments with it and see if I could at least fix the slight side effects that come with it."
"Those weren't 'side effects,' Connors; they were a nightmare." Langstrom said strongly. "My formula turned me into a monster. Mixing bat DNA with humans was a pervasive action in nature. My wife..." Langstrom looked down in sadness at that. "She and I never truly forgotten what horrors came from that serum."
"Yes, but this time I'm so close." Curt said passionately. "Maybe bat DNA wasn't the answer. Maybe if we tried from another angle..."
"No matter what angle you try to go at it, the results will still be the same." Langstrom said strongly. "Connors, I'm going to keep this short. You have to stop whatever it is you're working on."
"Stop?" Connors said in disbelief. "I can't just stop. I'm so close."
"You have no idea what dangers you could unleash!" Langstrom said angrily. "Why would you take such a risk?!"
"Why?" Curt said, with himself starting to feel angry, as he gestured his nonexistent arm. "Why do you think? If I can perfect the serum from a different angle, maybe others wouldn't have to suffer the same fate as me. Maybe more lives can be saved from a fate that seemed impossible to escape. Maybe, so I won't be seen as even less of a man by everyone, even my own family!"
Langstrom just stared at him with a scrutinizing gaze, before standing up and grabbing his cane, before walking out to the door. "I once thought the same thing you thought, and I paid the price for it." Langstrom said, before giving one last look to Connors. "Remember this, Connors, the road to hell is paved with good intentions." With those final words, Langstrom soon left out the door.
Connors watched him go, giving a glare as soon as the door closed, and clenching his fist in anger. He understands the risks and knows that he can work around him, and yet Langstrom came here to tell him to stop.
"Sorry it took so long." Martha said as she walked in with a plate full of sandwiches. "I had trouble finding all ingredients, but-" Martha paused when she saw that Curt was standing with a forlorn expression, and Langstrom was nowhere to be seen. "Curt, are you alright? Where's Professor Langstrom?"
"He...he had some business to attend to." Curt said, before giving a gentle smile. "But, those sandwiches look good, so they shouldn't go to waste. Let me just turn off some machines down in the lab."
"You've been spending an awfully long time down there." Martha said with worry. "Curt, is there something you're working on I should know about."
"It's a surprise." Connors said as he hugged his wife. "I'm almost finished, and when the time comes, you'll see what I'm working on." With that said, Connors left the living room and made his way downstairs to his basement lab.
When he made it to his lab, he began shutting off all the machines and putting his work on hold until further notice. He was about to head back upstairs, but then his eyes caught something. Something that made him gasp in utter shock.
The lab rat's missing limb was now back!
He rushed over to the cage and marvels at the sight as the rat scurried about with all four of his legs.
"I...I can't believe it." Connors whispered in amazement. "It worked. It actually worked!" Connors couldn't contain his laughter as he internally jumped for joy.
Then his face took on a more serious look, as he then gazed at the serum in the syringe. The test on the rat was a success, though that was all it was; a test. He wasn't sure if he was ready to test it on himself, just yet. There were still many unknown variables that he has no idea what effects may come from it.
"Why would you take such a risk?!"
"Because people need this." Connors muttered to himself as he remembered his conversation with Langstrom, before setting sights on where his arm used to be. "I need this." He then gave a determined look as he rolled up his sleeve and sat down at the table, before taking the syringe and aligning it with a vein.
With one final deep breath, he injected the syrup. He grunted a bit from the pain, and could feel a burning sensation from the syrup flowing into his veins, but then calmed down when the pain subsided.
With that taken care of, Connors got up and headed back up the stairs. There was nothing left to do, except let the serum take its course.
Science is built upon risks, and Connors was willing to risk it all. He just hopes the risks will be worth it in the end.
/
The Next Morning
Nick was back at the Gotham Gazette on his own little desk, working on the finishing touches of his latest article, one he has been working on for quite a while. The main focus of the article was the big picture of one half of it showing the Golem attacking the pier, while the other half showed Willy being taken into custody.
"Hey, kid." Ned called out as he walked up to Nick. "Isn't it a school day? Shouldn't you be heading out, or you'll be late?"
"I know, Ned. I just need to put some finishing touches on this, then I'll present this to Mr. Fireheart tomorrow." Nick said with a smile.
Ned gave the article a quick once over and gave an approving smile. "It looks pretty good." Ned said with a nod. "I can't help but notice that you're more talking about the kid that controlled the Golem, rather than the Golem attack itself."
"Well, I knew Willy in school, and I think he deserves to have his side of the story told out there." Nick said with a frown. "Everyone's just thinking of him as the crazy kid who used a giant robot to go on a rampage. They're not seeing that he was technically a victim, too, what with him being bullied constantly, humiliated everywhere he went, and had a really messed up home life. I just want to people to see that he didn't become this way on his own."
"Well, I hope that this helps your friend, in a way." Ned said. Just then, the elevator opened up and who came in was a tall man with short blonde hair, wearing grey jean jacket over a black shirt. When Ned saw who came in, his smile instantly faded. "Oh, great. He's back."
"Hey, everyone! The conquering hero has returned!" The man said loudly and jovially, causing everyone to look his way and started cheering for him. The man walked up to multiple people and high-fives them and patted them on the shoulder. "Good to see you! Yeah, I know, I'm back! Don't look so surprised."
"Who's that guy?" Nick asked in confusion.
"Eddie Brock, the self-proclaimed golden goose of the Gotham Gazette." Ned said with annoyance.
"That's Eddie Brock?!" Nick asked in surprise. "I heard about him! He wrote the story that unveiled the massive weapons trafficking scandal going on in the Symkarian embassy last year! He's also written articles revealing the dirtiest secrets on some of the dirtiest cops, or low-down dangerous criminals all over the country."
"Yeah, that's him, alright." Ned said, though his frown never went away. "Listen, kid, do yourself a favor and stay away from him."
"Wait, what?" Nick asked in confusion.
Before Ned could explain any further, the now-named Eddie Brock came up to them and wrapped his arms around Neds neck, giving the guy a noogie in the process. "Hey, Little Ned, good to see you! Did you miss me?" Eddie said with a big smile.
"Like I miss a skin rash." Ned said as he got out of the hold and fixed up his hair.
"Ah, come on, don't be like that. I've been gone for a year, so the least you could do is give me a little love." Eddie said as he held his hand up high. "Come on. Up top. You know how to do it."
"And just when I thought it could finally be peaceful around here." Ned said with his eyes narrowed as he walked away.
"Still the same old stiff, but don't worry, buddy. I'll wear you down eventually." Eddie said, before noticing Nick. "Hey, kid. You're definitely a new face around here."
"Hi, sir." Nick said as he stood up and held out his hand. "I'm Nick Styles. I'm technically a freelance reporter, but I only write articles for Gotham Gazette."
"Free lance, huh? You know, I started out the exact same way." Eddie said as he shook Nick's hand. "Well, as the star reporter here for the Gazette, let me give you some helpful advice. When you see a story, you grab it, and take it to the top. Don't let anything stop you from making sure yours gives the best truth. It's not just about finding the story, it's about making sure you elevate it to something spectacular."
"I'll definitely try my best, sir." Nick said with a nod.
"Good kid. Stick with me, and I'll make sure you rise up the ranks from free lance, to possibly being just as awesome as I am." Eddie said with approval before making his way to Fireheart's office. "Now, if you excuse, gotta go tell the chief the good news that his star player is back."
Nick smiled as he returned to working on his article, but saw that it was getting close to school starting. "I'll finish this up later on, then send it to Mr. Fireheart tonight after patrol." With that said, Nick gathered his stuff and headed out, finding a good place to swing on up to school.
/
It didn't take Nick long to get to school, mostly because, thankfully, there weren't any crimes to stop him along the way. When he reached the school, he instantly met up with Terry, who was trying to cram in as much info for Doctor Connors' lesson.
"Come on, man, you got this." Nick encouraged as he and Terry sat next to each other in class, with the later going over some of his notes. "What are the three main parts of cell?"
"Uh, give me a moment...cell membrane...nucleus...and, oh, come on..." Terry tried to think really hard, before he smiled as he remembered. "The cytoplasm!"
"Hey, there you go!" Nick congratulated, before giving a smirk. "Now what's inside the cytoplasm?"
"Wait, what? That wasn't on the notes he said for us to study!" Terry said in panic as he tried finding the info on all his notes.
"Oh, it's not, I just wanted to see your reaction to a surprise question." Nick said with a chuckle.
Terry frowned, before whacking his friend on the head with his notes. "Haha. Very funny, brainiac." Terry drawled.
"Hey, don't compare me to that psycho alien robot." Nick said with a chuckle.
"You know, Nick, I gotta say, I kinda like this new you right now?" Terry said with a chuckle of his own.
"New me?" Nick asked in confusion.
"You know, ever since you started being Spider-Man, you've been more confident and have really come out of your shell. Heck, you were scared to even attempt to ask a girl out, but now you've got a pretty great girlfriend." Terry explained.
"Huh...I've never thought about it like that." Nick said in surprise. Now that he thinks about it, he has definitely changed a bit since starting this superhero career. His life is definitely not perfect, but he was definitely happy with how it turned out.
It does make him wonder. What would his life be like if he wasn't Spider-Man?
The chatter among the class finally ended when Doctor Connors entered the classroom. "Good morning, everyone. I hope you all slept well." Connors said as he handed each of them an electronic data pad . "Each of these devices contain a biology assignment that you each must complete by tomorrow. Some of them will tell you to write an essay, some of them will tell you to create a diagram, but all of them will say that you must do a presentation of your research when the assignment is due."
"Oh, man." Terry whispered in dismay. "How are we supposed to get this all done with the old man working us to the bone each night?"
"Guess we'll have to have a lot of sleepless nights." Nick said with a groan. He may love science with all his heart, but even he needs a break every once in a while, but it looks like there'll be no breaks this week.
"Now, while you're all thinking on that, let's begin today's lesson." Connors said as class officially started, and everyone tried paying attention to the lesson. About an hour into the class, Connors was just starting to wrap things up. "Okay, and to finish up, we're going to go over metamorphosis. Can anyone tell me what that is?" There were a few hands raised, Nick being one of them, but Connors wanted to shake things up a bit. "McGinnis, do you have an answer."
"Oh, uh..." Terry tried to remember, but luckily all that extra precaution studying before class gave him the info he info he needed. "That's like when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, right?"
"Correct, but that's too much of a popular example, in my opinion." Connors said as he pointed to a display showing a tadpole and a frog. "Metamorphosis is all about an animal going through a physical change. Insects aren't the only ones capable of doing it, but tadpoles, crustaceans, even jellyfish are capable of such a feat. It's all about their bodies maturing to grow into their best selves to survive in the wild."
Chelsea raised her hand to ask a question this time. "Doctor Connors, since they go through a physical change, does that also affect how their mind works, too?"
"That is a good question. There may be some instinctual changes, some behavioral alterations, but at the end of the day, I believe the mind is still the one thing that cannot change." Connors answered. "An animal changes behavior, but the mind is constant and everlasting."
With that said, the class bell rang and all the student's gathered their belongings and headed out to their next class. Connors gathered some of his notes and headed out the halls to head to the teacher's lounge to grab some coffee as a little pick me up.
Just then, he stopped and held his stomachs, feeling a little bit of an ache. "Ugh...guess dinner...didn't agree with me." Connor tried to joke, but then he felt another, much stronger ache and sweat starting pouring down his head. "I better tell the principal...don't feel so...good." With that, he hobbled himself towards the principal's office to call in sick.
/
After telling the principal that he was not feeling well, Connors was back at home, lying in his bed with sweat constantly pouring down his forehead. Martha sat by him and took his temperature with a high-tech thermometer, before holding it up and getting a reading.
"So, how high is my fever?" Curt asked.
Martha looked at the screen that would show the reading, but what she saw made her eyes widen in slight shock. "That's odd. It's saying that your temperature is...getting lower." Martha said in confusion.
"What? But I'm super-hot right now." Curt said in equal confusion.
"This is an older model." Martha said as she got up and headed out of their bedroom. "I'm going to grab the new one downstairs. Just lay down and rest up, honey."
As soon as she was gone, Curt tried to get as comfortable as possible, but that was proving to be difficult. The stump where his missing arm used to be began to itch and burn, causing him to groan in discomfort.
"What is...happening?" Curt groaned in discomfort.
He got up from his bed and to the shared bathroom, splashing some cold water on his face to try and cool himself off. He then started to groan in pain as his shoulder started burn even hotter than before and the stump of his missing arm felt like it was on fire.
"AH!" Connors gave a loud yell as he removed his shirt looked down to see something that made his eyes widened in shock.
His missing arm was...growing back.
He could literally feel the growing of bones, muscle , tissue, and skin of what was once loss coming back. He saw the stump started to elongate, the feeling of the elbow returning and staring to bend it again, then he saw the forming of a new hand once it was long enough. He saw each individual finger staring to sprout back up, a sight he thought he'd never see again.
When it was all done, Curt gasped in shock and awe when he saw that his arm was now completely back.
He ran his other hand along his regrown appendage, feeling a sense of amazement that he could feel the skin of the arm, and the arm could feel the hand, as well. He clenched his new fist a couple of times, and was amazed that he had complete free rein and control of his new appendage, almost like it was never gone to begin with.
"I can't believe it." Curt whispered as a smile started to form, and tears started to fall down his eyes. He began to laugh joyfully as he held up his new arm up high. "It's back. It's actually back."
However, his eyes went from being joyful, to being concerned.
Starting to appear down his arms were tiny green specks that went down his arm, and more were growing by the second. Connors lowered his arm in shock and looked down to see what it was, and, much to his horror, they were scales! It didn't end with just his regrown arm, as scales started appearing from his regrown arm up to his shoulder. More started to appear down his back, from what he could see in the mirror, and then they started to appear on his chest.
Curt looked down in horror as his hands now started to grow claws along his fingertips, and when he looked in the mirror again, he could see that his blue eyes have changed to a sickly yellow, and his irises changed to a reptilian slit.
"No...NOOOOOO!" Curt exclaimed in terror.
CRASH!
Martha was just heading up the stairs with a new thermometer, but paused when she heard the crashing sound from the bedroom. "Curt?" Martha called out with worry. "Curt, what's wrong?!" Martha quickly ran to the bedroom and quickly entered, but gasped by what she found.
The entire bedroom was in shambles with the dresser knocked down, clothes ripped to shreds, and the bathroom mirror was completely shattered. Through all of that, she immediately noticed the open window leading outside. She poked her head out and tried to find her husband, but there was no traces of him.
"CURT!" Martha called out with worry.
/
Night had soon fallen unto Gotham, and that means that the city's resident superheroes were back at it again with their patrol. They were keeping an eye out for any more activities that could involve the Dogs of War, or even Powers. While doing that, they also had to multitask on their assignment, which was really giving one of them a headache.
"Ah, come on! I can't believe that Doctor Connors had to give us this assignment in the middle of the week." Batman said as he flew the flying Batmobile through the city, with the screen on his right in the cockpit had the notes on his assignment. "Couldn't he have just waited till the weekend, where we would have some more free time."
"If he did that, that most of the students would probably just write it off till the last minute." Bruce said over the comms. "Sometimes you can't put things off. You gotta learn it right away, instead of waiting on your time."
"Yeah, but when my time is mostly used doing school, along with beating down crazy bad guys, I hardly get the time of day." Batman said as he typed down a few new notes on the screen. "At least I can multitask."
"What's the term you have to study?" Bruce asked curiously.
"Body heat regulation." Batman answered. "I have to do a presentation about how species of reptiles regulate their body heat depending on the environment they live in."
Just then, Spider-Man came swinging in and landed on top of the Batmobile. "And I got to do a presentation on cellular differentiation. Already finished my notes on it, so the hard part's done." Spider-Man said with a smirk under his mask.
"Sometimes I envy that big brain of yours." Batman said with a slight groan. Just then, an alarm was heard on one of the Batmobiles controls.
"Looks like a break in at a medical laboratory up on 3rd Avenue." Bruce said as he looked at the reports on his end.
"A medical laboratory?" Spider-Man repeated in confusion. "That doesn't sound like the usual m.o. for the Dogs of War, or even Powers."
"Guess we'll have to check it out and see who this party crasher is. Stick on tight." Batman said as he accelerated the Batmobile and flew straight to where the disturbance is.
The two of them eventually made it to where the medical laboratory was located and hovered the vehicle above the roof. When they landed, they instantly saw the skylight window was shattered, showing the entrance on where the break in took place. Batman made a hand gesture, telling them to go in quietly, as to not alert whoever is in there, which Spider-Man agreed with a silent nod.
The two of them entered and Spider-Man stuck to climbing up on the ceiling to get a good view, and Batman turned his suit on camo-mode. They split up and silently looked throughout the lab, which now that they had a better look, looked completely torn apart with various equipment either destroyed or knocked over.
Spider-Man soon caught something interesting and leapt down to the floor, kneeling down to see a shattered glass cabinet door, various vials and beakers shattered on the ground, with their contents spilled over.
Batman walked along the torn down lab and saw pretty much the same thing he's been seeing, just a bunch of torn up equipment and no sign of the perpetrator. He soon caught sight of something that made his eyes widen in slight shock.
The metal wall had a deep gash of what looked like claw marks.
His eyes narrowed at the marks and he leaned in close to get a closer look at the claw marks. His suits lenses zoomed in and caught sight of something pretty small in the gashes and he pulled out some tweezer to delicately grab it. He looked closely at it, and was surprised to find that it was some kind of scale.
"Grrrr..."
Batman's eyes widened as he looked around to see where that sound came from. When he couldn't find the source, he activated his comms to call Nick. "Hey, Spider-Man, keep your guard up." Batman whispered cautiously. "Someone...or something...is still here."
"Yeah, I'm getting that vibe too." Spider-Man said as he heard that growl too, and he looked around to find out where it was at. He couldn't see it, but he could just feel something was moving in the shadows, watching his every move. He cautiously moved forward to continue the search, but just then his spidey sense tingled furiously, alerting him of something coming at him from behind, forcing him to duck. "WHOA!" A silhouette jumped right over him, thanks to his quick reflexes, and landed right across from him. When he got a good look, his eyes widened in shock beneath his mask, from what he was looking at.
It was a giant lizard creature with a large maw and snout, standing on its hind legs, was well above six foot tall, had a long tail, and had sickly green scales with yellow eyes. The creature growled at Spider-Man and quickly swiped at him with its claws, but the hero managed to flip out of the way.
"Uh, Batman, we got a creature feature going on over here!" Spider-Man exclaimed as he dodged and weaved out of the way from multiple claw swipes.
The creature roared in fury as it then tail swiped at the hero's legs, forcing him to jump up to avoid it, but this left him open as the creature grabbed him in midair and slammed him to the ground, pinning him so he wouldn't move. It tried to take a bite out of him, but the hero grabbed the top and bottom part of its jaw to stop it from biting his head off.
"Ah, come on, ever heard of breath mints." Spider-Man joked as he tried to hold back the massive jaws of the creature, which was proving to be difficult.
The creature was pushed off of him when Batman came flying in and tackled him. He wrapped his arms around the creatures neck and held on, but he was pulled off and tossed to the side. The bat-themed hero delivered a couple of punches, but the creature just barely felt and just backhanded him, sending him crashing into a shelf.
Batman got up and then gave a little smirk. "Can't chomp on what you can't see, scalely." Batman said as he turned on his stealth mode and became invisible. The creature growled in surprise, at first, but then its eyes became coated in a clear membrane for a brief moment.
To any other person's point of view, it looked like Batman became invisible, but to the creature's point of view, it could see the body heat of its prey, so it new exactly where he was. The creature reached out and grabbed Batman by the neck, before slamming him right into the wall, forcing him to be visible again. The creature was about to take a big bite where the hero's head was, but Spider-Man came in from behind and launched a web line at the back of its head, stopping it from chomping out.
"Sorry, pal, but bats are not on the menu." Spider-Man said, before giving a hard yank that sent the creature flying back, forcing it to let go of Batman. The creature roared as it leapt towards the spider hero, who ducked down and shoulder threw it right into a wall, causing it to crack. "And neither are spiders, for that matter."
The creature got up and growled as the two heroes cornered it. It looked around trying to find any conventional means of escape, but seeing that there wasn't any, it was going to have get creative.
It gave one final glare, before doing something that shocked both of them.
"Ssssstay back!" The creature hissed, causing the two heroes eyes to widen in shock.
The creature gave one final roar, before digging its claws into the metal wall, before ripping out a large chunk of it off. It then threw it right at the heroes, forcing them to jump out of the way. It used this distraction to punch a hole into what left of the wall, and ran outside to get away.
The two heroes raced out through the hole to find the creature, and found it racing on all fours over down the street at impressive speeds. Batman unfolded his wings and used his rocket boots to take flight, while Spider-Man launched a web line and swung right after it.
Meanwhile...
Driving right towards the direction of the medical laboratory was Eddie Brock, who was currently on the phone while driving.
"Yeah, I heard there was an alarm at this facility, which could lead to something big." Brock said over the phone. "Look, Fireheart, my articles are headliners, you know it, the Gazette knows it, and everyone in this city knows it. Just give me a couple of days, and my next piece will bring in views like crazy. I just need to find the right one."
As soon as he said that, the giant lizard creature jumped right on top of the hood of his car, giving a loud roar that caused Brock to yell in fright. The creature was then tackled off the car by both Spider-Man and Batman, who tried holding it to the ground.
The lizard creature gave a roar as it reached back and grabbed both heroes off its back, before throwing them off. It looked around and noticed a manhole cover leading into the sewers, so it quickly picked up the cover tossed it aside, before slithering down the hole. Both heroes got up and looked at the sewer entrance, knowing that there was no way they were going to catch up with it now.
"Well, just when I thought this city couldn't get any weirder." Batman said.
"I don't think we'll ever get used to the weirdness, pal." Spider-Man said with a sigh.
"Spider-Man! Batman!" Brock called out as he raced towards the two heroes and held up his recorder. "Any comment on what the heck that thing was?"
Batman didn't say anything, as he rocketed up in the air. Spider-Man, wanting to be a little more polite, quickly spoke up. "Sorry, pal, we're just as much in the dark as you are." With that said, Spider-Man launched a web line and swung away.
"Well, some help that was." Brock said in frustration, before looking at the sewer entrance where the creature went. He gave a smirk as he pulled out his phone and dialed it. "Hey, Mr. Fireheart, sorry about that. Had a little accident on the road... Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, but listen, don't fill in that final headliner just yet, I'm on to something big... Oh, trust me, it's a story for the ages, and that's saying something, coming from me." With that said, Brock hanged up and looked down into the sewer hole with a smirk on his face.
/
Later on that night, both Terry and Nick were back in the Batcave, looking over footage from Terry's mask on their fight with the creature through the Bat computer.
"This was definitely something new for us." Nick said as he rolled his shoulder to get the kinks out.
"Not for me." Bruce said simply while interlocking his fingers. His eyes were narrowed in concentration as he studied the footage of the creature. "This isn't the first time I've seen something with scales and claws in this city."
"Oh, yeah, you fought come kind of...what was it...alligator person, right?" Terry inquired.
"His name was Killer Croc. Heard he was never seen again after this guy called the Judge gave him a good thrashing and tried to end him." Nick reminded, looking at the image of the creature inquisitively. "Think this...Lizard, thing, runs in the same family gene pool?"
"Hate to be part of that family reunion." Terry joked.
"He may have gone underground after his encounter with the Judge, but I kept tabs on Croc, and he never had any children during his exile." Bruce explained as he never left his sight on the Lizard footage. "Besides, Croc was like that due to a genetic deformity, while this thing is more animalistic than he was."
"Now that's saying something." Nick said.
"I'm still trying to figure out what this Lizard was doing at a medical laboratory." Terry said in confusion. "A meat market or a butcher shop I can understand, but a lab that deals in chemicals and medicine? That makes no sense."
"I've hacked into the labs records after the incident." Bruce said as he typed a few keys and one side of the screen held a list of different chemicals, while the other side showed only three different chemicals. "The police did an inventory, and only these three chemicals were taken."
"Still doesn't answer why, though." Nick said as he narrowed his in concentration as he looked at the missing chemicals. "These medicines are mainly used for gene therapy and blood pressure medicine. There's hardly a connection."
"All the more reason for you two to be on your guard the next time this Lizard strikes." Bruce told them strongly, with the two heroes giving a nod in agreement.
/
The next morning...
Terry and Nick walked into the classroom, still feeling a bit tired from not only their little bout with the giant Lizard monster, but also, they had to lose even more of their sleep time to finish their projects assigned by Doctor Connors. Nick was alright with it, since science was his best subject, but Terry looked like he could just collapse right then and there.
"I am so tired, I think I can sleep with my eyes open." Terry said as he plopped down in his seat with Nick sitting right next to him. "You know how long it took me to finish this project?"
"Well, it's over with now. One last thing for us to worry about." Nick said with a shrug. "Now we can focus on finding the Lizard tonight."
Soon everyone in class arrived and were all going over a last minute check on their assigned projects, but when the teacher's door opened, everyone was confused to see that it was not Doctor Connors appearing.
"I am sorry everyone, but Connors will not be teaching today, so today I'll be your substitute." The substitute teacher said, much to everyone's confusion.
"What happened? Is he sick?" Nick asked.
"I don't have the answer to that, so I am unsure. The principal will be calling his home to get more answers soon enough." The substitute said.
'That's very odd.' Nick thought to himself.
"I know that you all had an assignment to turn in today, but since this is last minute, I will not be able to Gracie them accordingly. Instead, we'll just go over yesterday's notes." Everyone murmured mixed sounds of relief, as they will not have to be graded on their projects, but also annoyance, as they did all that work for nothing.
"So, I stayed up and worked all night after getting my butt kicked by a giant lizard for nothing?" Terry whispered in annoyance. "This totally blows, but at least there's not risk of failing it today."
"Well, either way, this is kind of worrying." Nick said.
"What do you mean?" Terry asked in confusion.
"Doctor Connors, the greatest teacher we've ever had, who prides himself in punctuality and discipline, while also trying to have push on to be better, just doesn't show up for class?" Nick asked rhetorically. "Sorry, I'm not buying it."
After that, class went on as it usually did, and school was pretty much normal for the superhero duo. When school finally let out, Nick decided to ask some of the faculty if they could tell him where Doctor Connors lived, so he can give him his best and maybe check if he was okay. It was an odd request, but the staff knew Nick was a good kid, and how much he looked up to Connors, so they saw no harm to it.
Now Nick and Terry were walking along the street and heading towards Connors' house, hoping to find out what was wrong with him.
"You think maybe we should have brought chicken soup, or something?" Terry asked. "What if he's going a cold and that's why he didn't show up."
"The guy didn't even let a missing arm stop him from what he loves doing, so you think a cold is going to stop him?" Nick asked rhetorically, before they walked up to the house. "Let's just check in on him, and see if he's alright." Nick was about to ring the doorbell, but stopped by what he heard next.
CRASH!
"AAAAAAHHHHH!"
Both of the teens eyes widened in shock when they heard the scream, before Terry immediately took action and kicked the door down. They both charged inside, and they both gasped by what they saw.
Standing on top of the dining room table, with a frying pan in hand, was Martha, and she was staring in fright by some type of creature on the floor that looked like a large reptilian rat. The creature roared and growled at her, and it crouched down low like it was about to pounce right at her.
Thinking quickly, Nick charged forward and kicked the creature pretty hard, thanks to his enhanced strength, and it crashed in the wall. It got back up and shook its head a bit, before snarling angrily at the teen.
"Are you okay?" Terry asked as he helped Martha off the table.
"I'm fine, but what is that thing?!" Martha asked in fright.
"Was kind of hoping you could tell us." Terry responded, before he saw the reptilian rat charging right back at them. Thinking quickly, Terry took the frying pan out of Martha's hands and smacked the creature hard, sending it flying across the room.
Nick didn't want to risk it getting back up, so he quickly grabbed a large pot and placed it right over the creature, though it still managed to budge it, so Nick quickly sat on top of it. "I need something heavy." Martha and Terry quickly grabbed a couple of heavy books and placed them on top of the pot, with Nick finishing it up with a big rock on the shelves. "That should hold him, for now. What is that rock, anyway?"
"Limonite." Martha said after taking a couple of deep breaths. "My husband may have a dabble in physics and biology, but I was always prone to geology." After calming down, she finally managed to get a good look at the two teenagers. "You're Nick Styles and Terry McGinnis, aren't you?"
"You know us?" Terry asked in surprise.
"Curt talked about you both quite a bit. Nick Styles, great intelligence and a gift for science, Terry McGinnis, good heart and determined to succeed, but both having a knack for tardiness." Martha explained.
"Yeah, that explains us to a tea." Nick said sheepishly, but they both jolted when the trapped creature budged its containment a bit. "You have my ex-lanation for that thing?"
"I don't know where that thing came from. All I heard was a crash, like a door was busted down, and then this thing came rushing down and tried attacking me." Martha said with a troubled look. "Thank God Billy is with some friends now. I can't even begin to think what would have happened if he'd been home."
"What about Doctor Conners? Is he home?" Terry asked. "He didn't show up to school today, so we were hoping to speak with him."
"My husband went missing yesterday." Martha said in a sad tone. "He was feeling sick, and I tried to help him, but then he screamed and then disappeared."
As Martha talked, Nick noticed something along the back end of the house, so he went to investigate. There, he saw a door busted down, reduced to splinters, leading down to a basement. "Uh, guys!" Nick called out, gaining their attention. "I think I know where that thing came from."
The three of them walked down the stairs and made it to Connor's basement laboratory, which looked completely trashed and destroyed, no doubt thanks to the freak of nature trapped upstairs.
"This is my husband's personal lab." Martha told them. "But why would that creature be here? There's no way to get in here, except from upstairs."
"Maybe he brought it here himself?" Terry said as he got a good look at a cage that looked like it was torn to shreds.
Nick knelt down to the floor and picked up a few pieces of paper that had equations and chemical formulas that seemed familiar in some way. "I feel like Doctor Connors showed me something like this once, but I can't remember what it was."
Martha reached out, allowing Nick to hand her the papers. She looked through each one and slowly her eyes widened in horror. "Oh no... Curt, you didn't." She whispered in fright.
"What is it?" Terry asked in concern.
"These formulas are similar to that of our old college professor, Doctor Kirk Langstrom." Martha explained, much to the two teens shock.
"The Man-Bat?!" Both of them exclaimed.
"Yes, but he left that part of himself behind." Martha said. "He was still a brilliant scientist, and he took me and Curt on as his personal assistants. It's actually how we first met. He taught us the fundamentals of genetic engineering and gene splicing; the benefits, as well as the dangers. He made sure to really hammer in that last part, on account of his own personal experiences with the danger."
"Okay, but how does this all coincide with Doctor Connors?" Terry asked.
"Years ago, after his accident, Curt left to visit Langstrom. I thought it was just to get away from it all, and to go back to his roots from his love of science, but I think I know the real reason." Martha said as she showed them two papers with two different diagrams of DNA, but one had the image of a bat and the other had the image of a lizard. "I think my husband stole the notes for Doctor Langstrom's Man-Bat serum, but he's substituting bat DNA with lizard DNA."
"Oh my gosh." Nick said as he smacked himself on the head. "Connors told me about this. He said he was trying to help those who suffered the same way he suffered. He wanted to use lizard DNA to help those with amputated limbs, such as himself."
"So, that lizard-rat thing was some kind of test subject?" Terry asked, before his eyes widened as something just dawned to him. "If that rat was a test subject, then what are the chances that..."
"That he may have used it on himself." Nick finished as his mind was coming to the same conclusion. The Lizard creature the two of them fought wasn't some monster, or some Killer Croc ripoff. It was Doctor Connors, himself.
"What?!" Martha asked in alarm, but then she put the pieces together. How sick he was, his sudden disappearance, the damages; it all made sense now. "Oh, God, Curt." Martha knelt down as started crying, unable to keep her emotion in check for much longer.
Nick knelt down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Mrs. Connors. If there's a way to help your husband, we'll find it." Nick promised to her.
With that, the two teens gathered as much papers as they could. They needed all the information they could carry if they were going to save Doctor Connors.
"Wait, what about that...thing?" Martha asked, referring to reptilian rat trapped upstairs.
"We'll take care of it for you." Terry said as they all headed outside.
/
Back at the Batcave, Terry and Nick watched as the reptilian rat was pacing back and forth inside of a bullet proof container with air holes on it. The creature lunged at the glass, but it was not strong enough to get free. Ace was nearby, growling at the creature, but Nick knelt down and petted him, slightly calming him down.
"I can't believe our own professor who taught us to be responsible with science, could create something that went wrong so quickly." Terry said in slight bewilderment.
"I've seen it all happen before." Bruce said as he was looking at the computer that held digital images of the formula Doctor Connors used on himself. "Men of science grow desperate for results, so they end up using their work on themselves." Bruce looked at the images with a scrutinized gaze, his mind filled with memories of the last time this has happened. "I'd never thought I'd see this formula ever again."
"You knew Doctor Kirk Langstrom, right?" Nick asked.
"It was one of my earlier cases." Bruce answered before pressing a button. The screen then showed an image of a younger Langstrom, the showed the image of a large humanoid bat creature flying over the roofs of Gotham. "Langstrom believed that bats were the key towards a new species of evolution. he experimented on himself and became a creature dubbed the Man-Bat."
"Gee, how original." Terry said sarcastically.
"I devised a cure for the Man-Bat serum, but this new strand is vastly different than the old one. this one replaces the bat genome with lizard instead." Bruce said, going over some of Doctor Connors' notes.
"But a cure is possible, right?" Nick asked in slight worry.
"It is, and I believe that Connors thinks that, as well." Bruce said.
"What makes you say that?" Terry asked in confusion.
"Remember those medicines that Connors was stealing the other night?" Bruce asked, getting a nod from the two teenage heroes. "At first the individual medications made no sense, but then I looked at a list of ingredients for each one, and some of these ingredients can be used for gene purging, if used in the correct dosage."
"So, Connors might be trying to find a cure himself." Nick said with a smile. "He may be stuck as a lizard, but his mind is still working overtime to fix himself."
"Think maybe we can actually reason with him?" Terry asked. "Maybe we can actually help him."
"I'm afraid it won't be that simple." Bruce said, before he pressed a few keys on the computer, with the screen now showing a heavily altered DNA strand, before an icon saying 'WARNING' was displayed, causing Bruce to narrow his eyes. "Just as I thought."
"What? What is it?" Nick asked in concern.
"Lizard DNA is completely different than bat DNA, so the formula is slightly altered than Langstrom's. Langstrom before was able to change back to normal and had to retake the formula to change back. This formula is more aggressive and is attacking the human DNA at a rapid rate." Bruce started to explain.
"Mr. Wayne, what are you saying?" Nick asked with growing concern.
"If a cure is not found soon, there won't be enough humanity left in Connors to save." Bruce said. making the two teens gas in shock. "There will only be the Lizard."
The two teens were shocked by this bit of news, causing them to look back at the reptilian rat, who continued to glare and screech at them.
/
Deep within the sewers of Gotham, the lizard form of Connors huddled in the corner in a drainage pipe, pouring multiple contents into a beaker.
"Yesssss...yesssss, it's almosssst done." Connors said in a raspier voice than his own. "I'm sssso close. I jussssst need a few more...more..." His reptilian eyes widened as he tried to figure out the proper words to say next. "What...what issss it that I need?"
Connors grabbed his head as he felt a slight throbbing pain right down to his brain. his eyes widened when he heard the sound of footsteps coming closer, so he jumped up and stuck to the ceiling.
Walking through the pipes were a couple of sewer workers, each with flashlights in their hands.
"Alright, boys, just one last clogged pipe to inspect, then we can head on home for the night." One of the workers said.
Connors, still clung to the roof of the sewer, watched them passed beneath him, but they didn't see him. His eyes slowly began to turn red as he growled loudly, echoing throughout the sewer line.
This sound caused the workers to get scared. "What was that?" One of the workers said in slight fear.
Connors then jumped down to the floor behind the workers, causing them to gasp in fear as the giant Lizard before them stood up tall and towered over them. it then gave a loud roar, causing them to scream in fear, and then ran away as fast as they could.
The Lizard gave chase and was much faster than the workers, causing him to quickly catch up and grab one of them, before slamming him to the wall. He opened his maw wide and was about to take a huge bite out of the worker, causing him to scream even louder.
This caused Connors' eyes to widen in shock. 'No! I am not an animal!' Connors thought to himself, regaining control enough to drop the worker, giving him the chance to run away in fear.
"I musssst...sssstay in control." Connors tried to speak as he went back to his little workspace corner and went back to mixing chemicals. "Musssst find a...cure." HIs eyes then became sad as he reached over and picked up a framed picture of his wife and son. "Martha...Billy...I'll be back...ssssoon."
/
Hey, everybody, it's been a while, but I'm back with a new chapter for this story.
Now, I apologize that it has taken me this long to get the next chapter out, but I have just been so busy with life, work, and working on my other stories that all of you want to see get updated, nt to mentions the new stories that I'm currently working on.
But the new chapter is here now, and I had a pretty good time writing this. This was all supposed to be one chapter, but there were just so many ideas and things to write about that I decided to split it into two parts.
And on that note, the Lizard is finally here! I teased his appearance multiple times, and I am so happy to have finally brought him to you. This lizard is loosely based off of his appearance in the Spider-Man 3 game, the Amazing Spider-Man movie, and the 90s Spider-Man cartoon. He still has his human mind, but the formula is rapidly removing his humanity. Next chapter will be the final part of this 2-parter, and then after that, it's the chapter you all have been waiting for. the moment where Nick meets his girlfriend's parents in all the wrong ways.
Now, some people have been sending me requests on who I will add to my roster of the Sinister Six, and I just want to say that I have already thought up the roster already. we've already seen 3 members confirmed, but the other three I am keeping a mystery for the time being, though you all can probably guess about who they are.
Now, with that being said, I should also let you know that I won't be doing the episode with the Terrific Trio. I don't have anything against the episode, it's just that it had no impact on the story of Batman Beyond whatsoever. I tried to think of what I could do differently, but nothing came to mind.
Anyway, that's all I have to say. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I can't wait to start writing the second part of Reptilian Madness.
With that said, stay healthy, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time!
