Chapter 5: Lizard Problem
Oscorp…
New York City…
Monday, May 9, 7:30 am…
Otto Octavius was focused deeply as he rewired one of his four metallic arms that hung around his lab. Several of the busybodies were galavanting outside. He didn't know why, nor did he care as he needed to focus.
It was close, so very close to done. When it is his invention will change the world! This way, no one will suffer like he had to. With Norman missing, there was no one who would be able to stop him from achieving his goal.
"Doctor Octavius." A Man in a suit called.
"I'm busy," Otto replied, ignoring the man.
"Sir, I am going to need your undivided attention." The Man insisted as Otto placed the wires down.
"What is it?!" Otto questioned as the man approached him.
"I am here representing the board. Now that Norman Osborn is missing, the board is seizing control of the company and will be making it public." The Man began.
"As they do this, they are also removing all divisions that haven't shown a financial profit, and unfortunately for you, that includes yours." The Man finished as he showed Otto the papers.
"WHAT?! NO, YOU CAN'T!" Otto denied.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Octavius, but the board's decision is final. You're going to need to get everything out by the end of the day." The Man stated.
"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! WHAT MY WORK WILL ACHIEVE?! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Otto screamed as another man entered the lab.
"Now, now Otto, don't be so mad. It's only natural that your department is shut down. When was the last time you actually produced something new?" The Second Man questioned.
"What's with the smug tone Alistair? You work in this division too!" Otto inquired.
"It's used to work, actually. Unlike you, the board knows my genius and gave me a promotion. I will be head of robotics, and you, Otto, are the trash that must be taken out." Alistair goaded.
"Listen here, Smythe, I won't just be tossed away so easily! If I can't work here, I'll finish my project elsewhere and show you and the board just how wrong you are!" Otto declared.
"And I would love to see that, Otto. But unfortunately, you will no longer have any funding to finish your project. People won't just support something like this when Lexcorp is around." Alistair snipped as he walked away.
"Damn you…" Otto seethed as the man in the suit handed him a paycheck.
"This is your final paycheck. See to that everything is cleared out by the end of the workday." The Man stated as he left.
"I…I…I will not allow my dreams to fail." Otto hissed as he clenched his fists.
Midtown High…
Spider-Man kicked open a manhole as he jumped out. He had looked all night for Curt but came up empty. Sadly he couldn't just skip school as he couldn't let anyone be suspicious. He needed to make sure his life looked the same as ever, meaning no one could know that Curt was missing.
After taking off his suit and changing into some clean clothes, Jay entered the school, making it just in time for his first period. He still had some time before the class, so he looked for the one person he needed at that moment.
"JETT!" Jay called as he ran to his friend.
"Hey, Jay, why weren't you on the bus?" Jett inquired as Jay grabbed onto his arm and pulled him into a janitor's closet.
"What the hell is going on, man?" Jett questioned as Jay locked the door.
"I've got a big problem." Jay began.
"Shit, did Mr. Conners not go alone with you being Spider-Man?!" Jett asked, concerned.
"No, it's worse than that. I think Uncle Curt was messing with cross-species genetics to regrow his lost arm and inadvertently turned himself into a giant lizard!" Jey explained.
"Are you serious?" Jett questioned.
"Yes, I have no idea where exactly he is! I spent all night looking for him in the sewers but couldn't find him," Jay responded as he smelled himself, and thankfully he didn't stink.
"Jesus, what was he thinking?" Jett wondered.
"That's the thing I don't think he was. At least not in the end. I don't think he would have taken the serum without being safe." Jay began.
"After what happened with the Man-Bat, he must have kept small doses or even other safety precautions to prevent this, but…." Jay continued.
"I think after seeing even a little bit of progress, he got desperate and took more. After he lost his arm, he's been depressed as he couldn't work like he used to." Jay went on.
"Which means he might have ignored the safety precaution to get his arm back. The serum may have also affected his mind leading to the same result." Jay finished.
"So, what will we do now?" Jett inquired.
"Come to my house tonight. I need you to try to put back his research the best you so I can develop an antiserum to change him back." Jay requested.
"Done," Jett replied as Jay unlocked the door.
"Thanks. Now let's get to class before people ask questions." Jay said as the two left.
Jay sat in class anxious as he was concerned about what was happening to Curt and what he may be doing at this very moment. Unknown to him, just below the school in the basement, one of the walls began to crack.
The crack grew larger and larger before a reptilian arm broke through. Soon the wall broke down as a large human-sized bipedal lizard walked through. On the Lizard were remnants of clothing, most notably bagged pants and a torn lab coat.
It was what Curtis Conners had inadvertently turned himself into as he looked around the room slowly. Flicking his tongue, the Lizard crawled onto the wall and onto the ceiling as if looking for something.
What was once Curt Conners seemed to be looking for something as it flicked his tongue to catch the scent it had been following. It was a familiar smell the Lizard was drawn to as he knew it was a friendly one.
At the moment, the Lizard was just running on instinct as it wanted to find this familiarity. But just then, as the Lizard clung to the ceiling, did the door to the basement open. Two teachers walked down the stairs to look for some supplies.
The noise alerted the Lizard to their presence as it dropped down from the ceiling, causing both to scream in terror. They began to run away as one tossed several items at the Lizard. With his lessened ability to think, the Lizard found their reaction as hostile and gave chase.
Even though they had closed the door behind them, the Lizard burst through it with a loud screech. The noise alerted several people as students flooded into the hall to see what the noise was. It was then that everyone spotted the Lizard that knocked down one of the teachers.
Chaos ensued as everyone began to run away, trying to get out of the school as fast as they could. When Jay came out seeing the commotion, he saw the Lizard, immediately knowing that it had to be Curtis Conners.
"Oh no," Jay murmured as the Lizard stared at him. The Lizard flicked its tongue as it began to run towards Jay.
Seeing that the Lizard was going after him, Jay ran away, hoping to lure Curt somewhere away from others. Jett noticed this and began to help lead people away. Jay ran down a hall with little amount of people with the Lizard on his tail.
The Lizard ran on all fours before jumping onto the walls and ceiling. Eventually, Jay kicked a bathroom door open and entered the thankfully vacant room. Before the Lizard burst through the door, Jay jumped to the ceiling and kicked at the small window, and jumped out.
When he did, the Lizard burst through the door and looked around the empty bathroom. Flicking his tongue, the Lizard searched for Jay's scent. It eventually led him to the window, where it dug at the wall and soon broke through.
As the Lizard hit the ground in an alleyway, he was pinned on his stomach by Spider-Man, who held him down. But with his equivalent strength, the Lizard got back up and slammed Spider-Man into a wall.
"Uncle Curt, you need to stop!" Spider-Man insisted as he put the Lizard in a chokehold. Lizard grabbed Spidey's arm and got him off of him before throwing him down the alley.
"I don't want to hurt you!" Spider-Man shouted as the Lizard inspected him.
"Do you recognize me?" Spider-Man inquired as he pulled his mask up a little to show off his face.
"It's me, Jay. I can help you, so just calm down." Spider-Man requested as he slowly approached him and slid the mask back on.
Suddenly sirens wailed through the area as the police came towards the school. Spider-Man knew that if they were to catch Curt, things would get very bad. But before he could do anything, the Lizard became enraged as the Lizard charged towards the loud noise out of reaction.
"Oh shit." Spider-Man cursed as he shot two webs at the Lizard's back.
"This is going to be for your own good!" Spider-Man muttered as he held the Lizard back.
The Lizard turned around and grabbed onto the webs pulling Spider-Man in. He tossed Spider-Man out of the alley as the arachnid hero hit a police car that had arrived. As he picked himself up, the police exited and converged on the alley save two.
"Freeze! You are under arrest for vigilantism!" An Officer demanded.
"For the love of…I don't have time for this!" Spider-Man stated as he shot a web at the two's guns.
He then got up and saw the police run and shoot at the Lizard, who charged out of the alley and attacked the responding officers. In hopes of stopping him, Spider-Man tackled him to the ground and attempted to bind the Lizard's arms and legs.
But that didn't happen as the Lizard hit him off with his tail while the police continued to fire at them. The Lizard wailed in pain as he attacked the police while Spider-Man jumped out of the way, having been hit by a few bullets.
Thankfully thanks to his bulletproof skin, he was unharmed, but it still stung. Getting past it, he webbed the Lizard's head, stopping him from bitting on a police officer. Using more of his strength, he tossed Lizard onto the roof of the school.
As Spider-Man followed, several of the students recorded the fight on their phones. All the evacuated students were a gasp and gossiping about how THE Spider-Man was at their school fighting what they believed at the moment was Killer Croc.
"Please don't make me hurt you!" Spider-Man begged as he ran towards the Lizard on the roof.
Seeing Spider-Man as a threat, the Lizard attack clawing at Spidey, who flipped over him after webbing his eyes. He proceeded to sweep the Lizard off his legs and went in to tie him up, but the Lizard escaped by tearing the webbing apart with his claws and cutting at Spider-Man.
Thankfully it only hit the spider symbol of his suit, which was one of the more reinforced parts of his suit. But as he inspected his suit, his spider-sense went off as he was tackled off the roof to the ground. Spider-Man quickly kicked the Lizard off as he got up.
"As much as I don't want to, I'm going to have to knock Uncle Curt out." Spider-Man thought as he shot a web to the wall behind the Lizard.
He launched himself towards the Lizard, kicking him through the wall and into the cafeteria. The two moved around the room as they exchanged blows. Most notably, the Lizard threw several tables at Spider-Man, who dodged most and threw back others.
Just as one of the tables crashed into the Lizard, Spider-Man used the chance to land a blow against his face. However, Spider-Man was still trying to not hurt Curt, so he didn't put enough power into his attack allowing the Lizard to stab one of his claws into Spidey's shoulder.
The Lizard drove the claw in with such force that it broke through Spider-Man's tough skin but just barely. It only got a centimeter in before the Lizard was unable to push any further. Grabbing onto Lizard's arm and pushing it back, taking the claw out of him.
But as he did, Lizard took his tail and wrapped it around Spider-Man's throat, beginning to strangle him. Lizard lifted Spider-Man up as he watched the arachnid gasp for air with his hood down. That is until Spider-Man lifted his mask.
"Uncle Curt, please," Spider-Man begged as he looked Lizard in the eyes.
This caused some hesitance as Lizard brought Spider-Man closer, remembering why he came here and who Spider-Man was. However, the reptilian instincts soon overwhelmed him as the human part of Curtis Conners slowly disappeared.
Lizard squeezed his tail harder around Spider-Man's neck as the police entered the hole they broke in. Spider-Man quickly brought his mask back down as he used all his strength to tear the tail off his neck. Unfortunately, it also tore off the end from the Lizard himself.
He wailed in pain as the end of his tail slowly grew back, much to the surprise of everyone there. The responding officers opened fire but were tossed aside and injured by the Lizard, who proceeded to dig down.
While Spider-Man wanted to give chase, he knew he couldn't leave the injured police behind. So he allowed Lizard to escape as he grabbed onto the police and brought them outside. Thankfully paramedics were already there due to the teachers Lizard had initially attacked.
"These men need immediate medical attention," Spider-Man stated as he placed each officer down next to a paramedic before he swung back to the cafeteria.
Upon arriving, Lizard was long gone, and when Spider-Man jumped down into the hole which led to the sewers beneath to school, Lizard was nowhere to be found. While he could go after him, he knew that he wasn't prepared. He needed to make the antiserum to cure him first.
Quickly he jumped out and made his way to his backpack, which he had placed on the roof of the school, and swung off a few blocks. Once he was sure no one could see him, he changed back into his clothes and returned to join the other students.
"Jay!" Jett called as he ran up to his friend.
"Was that who I think it was?" Jett inquired in a low whisper.
"Yeah, it was. He must have been following me without me noticing." Jay answered.
"Wouldn't your spider-sense warn you of that?" Jett asked.
"Normally, yes, but I don't think he was chasing with malintent. I think Uncle Curt still has some control and came to me looking for help." Jay began.
"But I think his control is slipping if we don't turn him back soon. He may lose himself forever," Jay stated.
"How much time until then?" Jett questioned.
"I have no idea," Jay answered.
"Thankfully, for the moment, people think he's Killer Croc. So hopefully, we can turn him back before people find out he's not." Jay sighed.
"Yeah, I managed to spread the rumor he was Killer Croc while you were trying to stop him. I figured it would be best, so no one asks questions." Jett smirked.
"Good thinking." Jay agreed until a thought dawned on him.
"But that being said, I doubt he'll go unnoticed now. There's bound to be some reaction." Jay murmured.
"Like what?" Jett asked.
"He's going to be hunted now. Meaning we need to find him and cure him before he gets captured." Jay responded.
"Yeah, but how are the police going to catch him. In order to catch him, you probably need other heroes," Jett pointed out.
New York…
Daily Bugle…
"Killer Croc, my ass!" Jonah shouted as he looked at the footage of the fight between Spider-Man and the Lizard.
"This is someone new, something different! The question is who it is!" Jonah rambled.
"Godfrey is spinning a story on how Killer Croc was mutated by the metagene." A Reporter stated.
"Please, what does that hack know!" Jonah spat.
"He'll spin anything to get views! But I want the truth!" Jonah shouted.
"Where's Brock? BROCK!" Jonah called as Eddie Brock entered his office.
"You called boss?" Eddie asked.
"Yeah, come here. What are you working on right now?" Jonah questioned.
"I was writing a report on Cory Wilson the Shocker," Eddie answered.
"Forget it, let Betty take that I want you solely on Spider-Man. Find out where he's come from and what he's doing! Then I want you to investigate the Lizard!" Jonah insisted.
"You want me to what and who?" Eddie questioned.
"I want you to find and get me more footage of Spider-Man and the Lizard. There's no way that thing is Killer Croc, so I'm giving it a name!" Jonah explained.
"I can't just bring a camera wherever I go, boss. Maybe if we had a photographer, we can get pictures for the paper." Eddie suggested.
"Are you an idiot, Brock?! No one reads newspapers anymore, which is why we need footage!" Jonah declined.
"You're not making this easy, boss, but I'll try to get some footage with a camcorder." Eddie sighed.
"As long as the footage is clean, I don't care how you record it. Get it for me, and I'll even give you a bonus! Now get going. I'm about to be on air." Jonah ordered.
"Yes, sir," Eddie replied as he left.
"The police said that Lizard thing dug a hole to the sewer. Guess I have to go in the sewers. Might as well by a respirator while I'm out." Eddie thought.
Otto Octavius Home…
As the sun set over the horizon, Otto Octavius managed to get all of his supplies in his home. He was furious at the loss of his job and the major setback to his work. But he wasn't going to take this sitting down. He was going to prove them wrong!
As he continued his work on his mechanical arms, he thought about what would happen in the future. Without a proper source of money, his arms would be useless. No one was going to buy his idea without several working machines.
Which means he would need to find his own source, and he would find one. No one was going to put Otto Octavius down! He was going to succeed, and then once he does, all those who doubted him will rue the day they messed with Otto Octavius!
Otto placed himself into the harness and began to turn the arms on. The arms sprung to life as they lifted into the air. Looking over to a glass of water in his kitchen Otto commanded one of the arms to shoot towards and grab it.
And grab it the arm did as it launched to the glass and slowly made its way back to him. His smile beamed as he took the glass from the arm and downed the water. They were ready, and they were perfection.
"I'll show you, Smythe! Norman! I'll show the world the greatness of Doctor Otto Octavius!" Otto cackled as he tossed the glass to the ground.
Curt Conners Home…
"Shit, he did a number on these papers," Jett muttered as he looked at the remnants of Curt's research.
"I don't know if I'll be able to put any of this back together, especially as I'm not a biochemistry wiz like you." Jett sighed.
"That's fine. Try to see if you can put anything back together. I need to see if he made a formula for an antiserum or if I need to work one from scratch." Jay replied.
"By the way, do you think Mr. Conners will come back here? I mean, this is his home?" Jett asked.
"He might, but I don't know what is going through his mind. But just in case, I set up that." Jay responded as he pointed to the web behind him.
"Jay, what the hell is that supposed to be?" Jett questioned.
"That is an alarm in case he comes back. There are more webs below, and if any are cut, we'll know that he's near. Spider's do something similar all the time." Jay answered.
"I swear sooner or later, you're going to turn into a giant spider." Jett chuckled.
"Or at least grow more arms," Jay smirked as he inspected Curt's lab.
He inspected a broken vial that was on the table but unfortunately, the fluid that was inside was gone and long since evaporated. So it would be no help to him as he inspected the leftover chemicals Curt had been using.
With these, Jay may be able to decipher what Curt had made and reverse the process. It would take him some time, but if Jett was successful in restoring some of Curt's research, then things would be easier.
"Let's hope that Uncle Curt doesn't get hurt while we work." Jay hoped.
New York Sewers…
The Lizard crawled through the sewers. Having fallen into his reptilian instincts, he roamed for any nutrients he could find. He kept to the lower parts of the sewer so that the flashing lights of those that looked for him didn't bother his sensitive senses.
As the Lizard roamed the dirty tunnels, his senses warned him of someone approaching. Burrowing into the wall, the Lizard waited for whoever it was to pass. His golden eyes shone as he watched a form walk past him.
Slowly he exited the hole he made and saw a large green man was walking past him. Lizard watched him closely as he slid into the water adjacent to the walkway. He followed the green man as his smell and appearance was odd.
But he didn't go unnoticed as the man turned and hurled a ball of flame that exploded upon impact with the water. The force of the explosion pushed the Lizard out of the water and into the adjacent wall.
"Hmm, what the hell are you?" The Green Man questioned as he trudged his way towards the Lizard.
"I've never seen such an overgrown lizard in person before." The Green Man chuckled as he created more balls of fire.
"HAHAHA!" The Green Man cackled as he hurled more balls of fire at the Lizard.
Lizard avoided the fireballs as he crawled onto the roof before jumping at the Green Man, pinning him onto the ground. He attempted to bite down on the Green Man's head, but he was thrown off into the ceiling shattering it.
As debris fell down on the Lizard burying him under the mirky water of the sewers, the Green Man got up and created another ball of fire. He hurled it into the pile, blowing it up only to see the water slowly drain around there.
Before he could question what happened, the Lizard broke through the ground beneath him and sliced into the Green Man's back with his claws. It caused the Green Man to bleed as he spun around and grabbed onto the Lizard's head, and slammed him into the ground.
Just as the Green Man was about to slam a ball of fire into the Lizard, he was whipped by the Lizard's tail. Upon seeing itself outmatched, the Lizard dug into a nearby wall running away for his own safety.
"Vermin." The Green Man spat as he looked at his hand on a piece of the Lizard's lab coat with the name tag Curtis Conners.
"Hehehehe." The Green Man laughed as his smile widened.
"Someone made an oopsie." The Green Man smirked as he trudged through the water towards where Lizard ran off to.
New York Sewers Elsewhere…
Eddie Brock slowly walked through the sewers with a respirator on his face and a camcorder in his hand. He was looking around for the Lizard just as Jonah wanted, but so far, he was coming up empty.
It made him want to turn around and just try to find him wherever he would show up next, especially with Spider-Man. But his journalistic duty just couldn't let himself leave as he trudged forward to find what he needed.
That being said, he jumped at every little noise that ran through the sewers as his nerves were on edge. If he encountered the Lizard, he didn't know what he would do against him besides run for his life and hope he didn't give chase.
Eventually, he heard the sound of something scraping against rock, and he went to investigate. When he rounded a corner, he was met with a steep drop off where all the water flowed down to. At the bottom was a large pool of water that would soon be drained away once it hit capacity.
The circular chamber was fairly large and dimly lit by moonlight to the point where Eddie didn't notice Lizard above him crawling down. It wasn't until he felt the Lizard's saliva hit his head that he turned and saw the creature.
"OH SHIT!" Eddie screamed as he ran off with Lizard, landing close behind.
He didn't get far as the Lizard grabbed onto his leg and tossed him towards the chamber. Lizard approached Eddie as he began recording and was prepared to end the reporter. That is until Lizard smelled a familiar smell, that being the Green Man.
Becoming agitated, Lizard tossed Eddie across the chamber with the reporter just managing to grab onto a ledge on the other side. He breathed heavily as he climbed up and continued to film the Lizard that roared in anticipation.
Curt Conners Home…
Jay lit a bunsen burner under a flask that held yellow fluid within and waited until it began to boil once it was, he turned off the burner before pouring in a blue liquid. Once that was inside, he stirred it up before turning the burner back on for a minute and turning it back off once more.
Jett had managed to recover some of the research, but not all of it, forcing Jay to fill in the gaps the best he could with the knowledge he had. But it was enough to get Jay started as he worked hard on creating the antiserum.
He was nearly done as he planned on making lots of it just in case any broke. Jett had even made little slips where Jay could put the vials of antiserum in when he goes to find Curt. When it came to turning Curt back into a human, Jay wasn't going to take any chances at all.
Slowly he poured the liquid inside several vials and loaded them into his belt. Once he grabbed onto the injector, Jay was ready to find and save Curt. And the only way he could do that was as Spider-Man.
"Alright, it's time to turn him back," Jay stated as he grabbed onto his mask, having preemptively put on his suit.
"Be safe. I'll be monitoring from here," Jett said, having set up his laptop in the basement.
"Let's hope I can find him fast." Jay hoped as he put on his mask and jumped down the hole.
He landed on one of his webs and prevented himself from hitting the dirty water. Spider-Man hopped and clung to the ceiling as he explored the sewer in search of Lizard. Sadly he didn't know where to start, but he wouldn't stop searching until he found Curt.
Before, the Lizard had most definitely been following him without his knowledge, and the only reason his Spider-Sense didn't tip him off was that at the moment, Lizard didn't prove a threat. No doubt Curt still had some humanity left in him at that point which is why he followed.
"And if I don't find him, he may lose his humanity forever." Spider-Man thought as he continued to search for Lizard.
But he was tipped off when he heard the sounds of fighting and loud hissing in the distance. Fearing the worst, he ran off to where he heard the sound praying that he wasn't too late to help Curt and get him back to normal.
New York Sewers...
Lizard hissed as the Green Man tackled him into the large circular chamber. The two fell into the pit of water below that was slowly reaching capacity upon which it would drain. While Lizard would have the advantage in the water, the Green Man used his strength to his advantage.
Whenever Lizard got close, he grabbed onto him and gripped tight and heated up with a ball of fire that exploded soon after. Having learned from that, Lizard dove down and attacked from below as he bit into the Green Man's leg.
He began to drag the Green Man down towards the bottom but was stopped when the Green Man fired balls of fire that exploded instantly, launching him upward. The Green Man sprung out of the water before grabbing onto the wall.
As the battle continued, Eddie Brock got the entire thing on footage, shocked at the sight of the newcomer. But he wasn't going to complain as this would do even better than just having footage of the Lizard alone.
It also drove attention away from him as he crawled into a new tunnel. Lizard jumped out of the water and began to crawl up the wall. He clawed at the Green Man, who was unable to maneuver on the wall.
Lizard's claws sliced into the Green Man's back, but the injury quickly healed itself. The Green Man responded by slamming his flaming fist into the wall, causing a large explosion. It resulted in a large portion of the wall to shatter and collapse onto Lizard, sending him into the water.
Thankfully for the Green Man, several chunks floated in the water, giving him a foothold to stand on. But as he landed on the largest chuck, Lizard launched out of the water and bit into the Green Man's shoulder.
In retaliation, he grabbed onto Lizard's head and slammed him into the chunk below him. This broke the chunk forcing the Green Man to jump to another. Once he landed, his hands glowed as he hurled fireballs into the water below.
Several explosions then occurred under the water shooting geysers of the sewer water in the air. Soon after, Lizard was hurled into the air as one of the explosions had sent him flying. The Green Man jumped up towards him with a ball of fire in his hand.
He slammed his fist into Lizard's back, creating another explosion sending Lizard higher into the air scarring his back. The wound soon healed, but Lizard was still not happy as he sunk his claws into the wall catching himself.
Lizard hissed as it ran down the wall and dove back into the water. This time he took the initiative as he saw faster and faster until he slammed into the debris the Green Man was standing on.
This knocked the Green Man back into the water, where the Lizard had the advantage. Unlike before, the Green Man was disorientated, allowing Lizard to land several blows on the man. That ended when the Green Man created explosions from his feet, pushing him out of the water.
"You're tougher than I thought! But you're going to need to do better than that, Conners!" The Green Man cackled as he shoved his man into the wall.
Eddie was confused as he couldn't quite hear what the Green Man had said, but he hoped that when he looked over the footage, he could make it out. The Green Man hurled several balls of fire at Lizard, who attempted to crawl up the wall to no avail.
But eventually, Lizard got onto the wall and ran up towards the Green Man, who stopped the Lizard's attack by grabbing onto his neck. He cackled as he began to strangle Lizard to death, unfazed by Lizard's flailing.
"Get away from him!" Spider-Man demanded as he dove down and kicked the Green Man in the head.
This caused the Green Man to release his grip on the Lizard, who fell into the water below. Meanwhile, Spider-Man shot a web at the ceiling and into the Green Man's chest. The Green Man grabbed onto the web and burst it into flames allowing him to fall into the water.
He shot back up, however, and slammed Spider-Man into the wall. Spider-Man pushed the Green Man's arms away as they heated up. As he finally got a good look at the Green Man, his image was reminiscent of Hobgoblin.
The man's eyes were orange with black irises, and he had two horns at the top of his head. His teeth were sharp and jagged as his nails were sharp. His hesitation cost him as the Green Man kicked him into the wall.
"Something wrong, Shepard?" The Green Man inquired, shocking Spider-Man.
"How? How do you know my name?" Spider-Man questioned.
"That is my little secret, boy." The Green Man smirked as he hurled a ball of fire at Spider-Man.
Spider-Man broke free from the wall and flipped onto a higher part of the wall avoiding the ball of fire. Just then, the Lizard jumped out of the water and attacked Spider-Man. With the shock of the Green Man knowing who he was, Spider-Man almost forgot about Lizard.
He managed to move out of the way just in time as Lizard landed on the wall. The reptilian charged at Spider-Man, who hopped off the wall and fired a web, pinning Lizard to the wall. Once he did, he landed on the many debris in the water.
"Jay, I just realized something! That guy is the same one that was seen the night Norman Osborn disappeared!" Jett realized.
"Alright, buddy, you need to talk. Who the hell are you, and what did you do to Norman Osborn!" Spider-Man questioned.
"Oh, he is very safe." The Green Man chuckled as he grabbed his head and looked at his reflection in the water.
"As for who I am…well, I haven't given it much thought since I came to be." The Green Man stated, confusing Spider-Man.
"But you can call me. The Green Goblin!" Green Goblin declared as he charged at Spider-Man with flames in each hand.
"Green Goblin?!" Spider-Man and Eddie gasped internally as the reporter had heard this declaration.
Shooting two webs upwards, Spider-Man pulled himself up to avoid Green Goblin's attack. He then dropped down and kicked the Goblin into the water. After that, Spider-Man turned around to give Lizard his medicine, but the reptilian had broken free.
Not only that, he had dug into the wall to escape. Spider-Man jumped to the hole to inspect it, only for his spider-sense to go off. He jumped back just in time for Lizard to burst through the wall and claw at him.
Spider-Man grabbed onto one of the antiserum vials and inserted it into the injector. He fired a web just next to the Lizard and zipped over to inject the antiserum into him. But his web was cut by Lizard, causing Spider-Man to lose his momentum.
This caused him to fall into the dirty water below as Lizard dove in after him. Having not taken a good breath, Spider-Man swam to the surface but was stopped by the Lizard. The reptilian grabbed onto his leg and dragged him down towards the bottom.
Spidey tried to fire a web but failed to realize that his webs were useless underwater as he kicked Lizard in the head. Once the grip on his leg was released, Spider-Man decided to dive down after the Lizard to give him the antiserum, but he was intercepted by Green Goblin.
The Goblin pinned Spider-Man on the underwater wall as he blasted a fireball point-blank. This sent Spidey out of the water with burn marks on his suit. Thankfully his skin was tough enough to endure the brunt of the blast.
But internally, there would definitely be bruising. To prevent himself from falling back into the water, he fired a web into the ceiling as Green Goblin hopped out of the water. The green monster landed on a chunk of rock as he grinned at Spider-Man.
"What's wrong, boy scared?!" Green Goblin questioned.
"Of you? Please!" Spider-Man denied.
"Hobgoblin's ugly mug was way worse than yours!" Spider-Man shouted.
But that being said, he would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. After all, he had just come down here to return Curt back to a human. He did not know this Green Goblin would be down here, and now he had to deal with both.
"Good because I've been waiting to kill you." Green Goblin smirked as he tossed several fireballs.
Spider-Man swung around, avoiding the balls of flame as much as he could, but Goblin managed to sever his web. Just in time, he fired another web, preventing himself from hitting the water as Lizard jumped up onto a wall.
"Dammit, this is getting too complicated!" Spider-Man cursed as he narrowly avoided another fireball.
"Jay, I have an idea," Jett stated as Spider-Man ran up the wall to avoid Lizard and Green Goblin.
"I don't really have any options, so shoot," Spider-Man replied as he flipped over Lizard, who clawed at him.
"Right now, you should be in a central drain that was made to avoid flooding during battles between superhumans and related weather phenomena." Jett began.
"Which means a good amount of the sewage drains into here to be brought elsewhere. It seems that this chamber is nearly full." Jett continued.
"If you break open some of the pipes, you can force it to start draining. This way, you can most likely get rid of this Green Goblin and capture Mr. Conners." Jett finished.
"What if Uncle Curt gets dragged along?" Spider-Man asked.
"You're going to have to catch him first then," Jett responded.
"This is going to be difficult." Spider-Man sighed as he saw Green Goblin creating more fireballs.
Spider-Man looked around for the pipes Jett had mentioned and found the perfect one to use. He quickly swung over and landed onto the pipe, and moved to the wall. Spidey placed his back to the pipe and his feet on the wall as he began to push.
Using all of his strength, he began to bend the pipe out, breaking several of the bolts before it snapped and water came gushing out. Green Goblin jumped out of the way as the water came crashing down while Spider-Man moved onto another pipe.
Working quickly, he broke that pipe causing more water to spill out and into the reservoir, splashing on the Green Goblin. Knowing his flames would be useless with all the water around, Green Goblin began to jump upward to one of the tunnels.
Spider-Man dashed that plan as he fired a web blocking Green Goblin's path as he moved on to the next pipe. When he began to break the pipe, he saw Goblin easily cut through his webbing, forcing him to stop and fire a new web.
But before he could, Lizard intercepted him hissing as he pounced on Spider-Man. As Spidey held him back, Eddie decided that this was a good time to leave. He wasn't going to risk injury or life when he had more than enough footage for Jonah to use.
Lizard pinned Spider-Man onto the pipe, but the arachnid hero kicked both of his feet into Lizard's gut. He quickly got up and grabbed onto the injector, and ran up to Lizard to inject the reptilian with the serum.
However, his efforts were for not as Lizard knocked him into the wall with his tail knocking the injector out of his hand, causing it to fall into the rising water below. Cursing inwardly, he would now have to resort to forcing the antiserum down Lizard's throat.
That would be much harder than just giving the man a shot. Before he could even try, Green Goblin blew up the pipe they stood on with a fireball. As he landed on a wall, Spider-Man went to grab onto a vial of antiserum only to find nothing.
Looking down, he saw that nearly all of the antiserum he had made was destroyed. He had been so absorbed with the fight that he had neglected to keep them safe. It almost seemed like all hope was lost for turning Curt back to human.
But then he remembered the injector that fell into the water with one vial left. He would had to dive into the water and retrieve it before the drains activated. Not only that but both Green Goblin and Lizard would be on his tail.
"Ah shit." Spider-Man cursed as he jumped down to the water.
"Well, I think the New York sewer system might do my job for me." Green Goblin chuckled as he blew up more pipes to add more water.
"I'll leave these two to themselves. If either live well…they'll wish they hadn't." Green Goblin smirked as he left.
The water was murky and dark, making it near impossible to see anything, much less the injector Spidey needed to cure Curt. Speaking of the reptilian, he had followed Spider-Man into the water, diving down towards the arachnid hero.
He caught up quickly, grabbing onto Spidey as he clawed at the web-headed hero. Spider-Man struggled to force Lizard off of him, especially since he was trying his best to conserve oxygen. Being so deep in the large pool of water would make it hard to get back up.
Thinking quickly, he placed the ends of his web-shooters into Lizard's eyes and fired, blinding the reptile with the liquid webbing. Even though his webs didn't work underwater, they still had some uses.
As he continued to swim, looking fruitlessly for the injector, the water reached its tipping point. The drains at the bottom opened up with each flap now pointing up, causing all the water to rush in. This pulled both Spider-Man and Lizard in as the water dragged them down.
Spider-Man grabbed at the wall, but the current of the water was too strong, preventing him from sticking. He and Lizard were dragged towards the drains, and thankfully Spider-Man grabbed onto the flap of the drain preventing himself from going through.
But this gave Lizard the opportunity to attack as the reptile pounced. The two struggled, barely able to prevent themselves from going into the drain. As the fight continued, Spidey's vision began to blur as he ran low on oxygen.
Before he lost consciousness, something hard hit his head. He grabbed at it before it sank into the drain and saw that it was the injector. Acting fast as Lizard grabbed onto his head Spider-Man shot the antiserum into Lizard's neck.
This caused Lizard to recoil as he let go of Spider-Man and fell into the drain. As that happened, Spider-Man lost consciousness and fell in too. The current dragged the two through the pipes and towards the purification plant.
Eventually, the momentum stopped, and Spider-Man's unconscious form floated upward until it hit the surface. When air came to him, Spider-Man gasped and gathered as much of it as he could. After gaining his bearings, he noticed the unconscious form of Lizard nearby.
He grabbed onto him and dragged him out of the water and onto the floor of the purification plant. Thankfully they seemed to be in an area that was mostly automated, meaning no one would be nearby.
"Jay, are you okay?" Jett questioned.
"Yeah, I'm fine just…I'm going to need a lot of sleep after this." Spider-Man responded.
Just to be safe, Spider-Man dragged Lizard to a corner as he watched in awe as Lizard's right arm disintegrated. As it did, Lizard's skin slowly turned more human-like. Slowly but surely, Curtis Conners returned to normal.
Spider-Man let out a sigh of relief as his antiserum worked just as intended. He had to celebrate later, though, as sooner or later someone would be coming by, and he and Curt needed to be out of there.
So he picked up the unconscious Curtis Conners after making sure he was still breathing and began to leave. Making sure to hide Curt's face from cameras, Spider-Man managed to make it out of the plant undetected and began making his way back home.
New York Sewer System Elsewhere…
Green Goblin walked in the dirty water of the sewers as his posture that was once hunched now returned to normal. That wasn't all, as each day that past Green Goblin changed. Originally his cognitive thought and speech ability increased.
Now it was time to go back and claim his success. Things were going to change, and no one would be controlling him. He would fear no man, not even the Kingpin. Norman had long since given in to this, and now the two of them would achieve greatness.
"Hehehehe. Things are going to be interesting." Green Goblin chuckled.
Curt Conners Home…
Jay walked up the stairs to Curt's room as the scientist slept. He had not woken up since turning back into a human, and Jay could only hope things didn't go south. At the very least, they were now out of the sewers, and he was showered. Though they had to spray air freshener around Curt.
It took him and Jett a while, though, to figure out the best way to clean his suit, which stunk to high heaven but thankfully, it was now being cleaned. At the moment, Jay sat next to Curt's bed, hoping the man would wake up soon.
"Ugh…wha…where?" Curt questioned as he slowly woke up.
"Uncle Curt!" Jay exclaimed as he gave Curt a glass of water.
"Jay, what…happened? I don't really remember much?" Curt inquired as his memory was blurry.
"It's a good thing you're sitting down because it's a long story," Jay stated as he explained everything that had happened to him when he turned into the Lizard.
"Even after the small doses, I gave into impulses and messed up big time. I owe you, Jay." Curt smiled as he placed his remaining hand on Jay's shoulder.
"Thank you, Jay. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably still be out there losing my humanity." Curt thanked.
"I know I said I didn't want you being Spider-Man, but maybe I was wrong. You helped me when I was turned into that monster." Curt began.
"If you weren't there who knows what may have happened to me. So if you can help me then you'll be able to help lots of people." Curt finished.
"You're really going to be okay with this?" Jay asked.
"While I can't say that I'll be entirely okay with it. I know you just want to help people. Just promise that you'll stay safe." Curt requested.
"I promise." Jay smiled.
"Thank you. I'm sure your father will be proud of you." Curt thanked.
"Now I think I'm going to take a shower. I don't want to catch something." Curt sighed as he got up, and Jay left the room.
"Did he wake up?" Jett inquired.
"Yeah, he's all better. He's also going to allow me to stay as Spider-Man." Jay answered.
"Yes! Now we just have to hope my sister doesn't find us out, or we'll be screwed." Jett smirked.
"Yeah." Jay agreed.
"But one thing that concerns me is Green Goblin," Jay murmured.
"Right, he was strong, resilient, and he somehow knows who you are." Jett nodded.
"No doubt he is someone who was given the Oz Formula by Norman Osborn. I guess it didn't work too well for Norman in the end, though." Jay said.
"He said he was safe, but who knows," Jett muttered.
"Just what is this Oz Formula, though? I mean, it looks like it turns people into…well, Goblins." Jett wondered.
"It didn't do that to me." Jay pointed out.
"But then again, I was given it through a spider bite," Jay added.
"I need to figure out what this Oz Formula is and just who is leading all of this. Oz Formula, Shocker, Hobgoblin." Jay began.
"All feel connected somehow, and Oscorp may be able to answer," Jay stated.
"Don't tell me you're actually going to try and break into Oscrop?" Jett questioned.
"Yeah, I am. And I'm going to need your help to get into their computers." Jay smirked.
"Great…" Jett sighed.
"Well, I hope you realize it's not going to be easy." Jett pointed out.
"Yeah, but that's just going to be par for the course with this life." Jay sighed.
Daily Bugle…
Eddie Brock was currently at his desk looking over the footage he had gotten. Unfortunately, much of it was unusable as everyone was out of shot or far away, and most audio was too quiet. But he had many golden shots of Lizard fighting with the Green Goblin and Spider-Man.
No doubt Jonah was going to be ecstatic with this footage as being able to report it before Godfrey can spin it in a bad light would be beneficial. It would definitely bring more people to watch the Daily Bugle, and that alone was good.
But at the same time, he was concerned about the reaction to this new goblin. Hobgoblin was bad enough, but who knows what this new one was going to do. However, with Spider-Man around, it may not matter. After all, he took out Hobgoblin.
Though that would only work as long as Spider-Man could do the job. People were still skeptical of his character and if he was really a hero. Ever since the Justice League went under U.N. control, people questioned those who didn't follow those rules.
They blamed them for any bad happenings, and Godfrey took that and fueled the fire. But Eddie believed that Spider-Man was good. After all, he did save his life. It wasn't just him, too, as several citizens agreed.
That being said, several thought he was a menace as several buildings and objects were destroyed during his fights with Hobgoblin and Shocker. Spider-Man was still an up-and-comer, so only time could tell what he'll become.
Tinkerer's Workshop…
Tinkerer worked on several more exoskeletons for Kingpin's criminal forces. Though she was making them far inferior to her personal one, each were reasonably strong. But soon, she would need to work on Kingpin's newest order.
In order to combat Spider-Man, Kingpin wanted her to create a new suit for a new enforcer to kill Spider-Man. This time the suit would focus on killing ability rather than destructive ability as it took the shape of a large scorpion.
While Tinkerer would like to help Jay as she did before, she was pushing her luck already. She couldn't fail Kingpin, so if something went wrong, it wouldn't go well for her. Tinkerer can only hope that Jay would pull through.
"Please. Please don't die because of me." Tinkerer begged as she began to shed tears.
Author's Note:
Boom, another chapter done! I hope you guys enjoyed as it took me a while to get this chapter done. In fact, the final fight between Jay, Lizard, and Green Goblin was actually a rewrite when I realized the original one I made didn't really work.
I won't go too much into it as I may reuse the idea later on, so I digress. As for Green Goblin, he was always meant to be in this chapter, but originally he didn't meet face to face with Jay.
Originally they were, but I changed it then changed it back, lol. Either way, Norman has completed his transformation into the Green Goblin this chapter as the Goblin can finally think and speak normally.
Now before anyone asks, the Green Goblin in this story is sort of a merging of the Ultimate Comics version and the 616 version. He has the powers of the Ultimate version but the physic, intellect, and madness of 616.
So yeah just wanted to let that be known. Anyways a lot happened in this chapter beyond that as Otto Octavius's journey to becoming Doctor Octopus has begun. Additionally, the appearance of Alistair Smythe and Scorpion's suit.
Also, am I spelling Smythe's first name right? When I looked it up, I got two answers being Alistair and Alistaire. I feel like I chose right but let me know if I didn't. Plus, about the Daily Bugle in this story just wanted to say yeah, they're a bit more supportive of Spidey.
I thought, since Godfrey is already a dick going around slandering heroes, why bring in another. That being said, it doesn't mean Jonah won't be his same old silly self. Anyway, that's all I have for today so let's get to the reviews:
Necros The Saiyan knight – Thanks for letting me know. It would have been embarrassing not realizing it until much later, lol.
Kevin06x – Don't worry, I am not pushing myself. It's just that I am currently just really inspired to write this, so I just write. I have a good amount of free time, so since I feel so eager to write this, I do.
Eventually, it will get to a point where updates will be once a month or so as my focus or drive may switch to one of my other fics but yeah. When I really get into writing a story, I can get it out really fast.
I used to update my first story weekly, lol. So no need to worry about me getting burned out and dropping this story. Sorry about the grammar; I didn't realize it as some of the smaller things just go over my head.
I actually use Grammarly, which helps for the most part, but I do go through and read my chapters before I post them. I didn't notice I misspelled Blue Beetle's name and don't know yet what else I messed up, but I will go the extra mile to make sure it doesn't happen often.
As for Jay's strength, he's still getting the hang of it. He still holds back a lot, just like Peter and most versions of Spider-Men and Women do, because they could literally kill someone if he punches them too hard. It will take some time before he gets the hang of it, which then it could break the suit a little.
About Jay's suit, I actually don't see many similarities to Miles's as I wanted to be more similar to Peter's. Specifically, it looks similar to his suit in Far From Home, with many changes.
Since the suit keeps the red and the webbings on it, I feel it bears more similarity. Just wanted to let it be known. I am hoping to find an artist to commission art of the suit one day, so yeah, but who knows.
Upgrades will take time as for the moment, neither will see a need for it, but in time, it will come. Oh, and yeah, other survivors of Star Labs who knew Jay will connect the dots, but they'll keep their mouth shut about it, lol.
It'll be some time before Jay joins The Team in any form, as yeah, it is way too early for him to join as people haven't accepted him as a hero. Many are still suspicious of him, which is why some parts of the team are investigating him.
He needs to be his own hero and figure things out himself without them first before he teams up. For Jay learning Martial Arts, it may or may not happen. If anything, Jay will make his only fighting style much like most Spider-Men, and Women do.
Yes, Jay is smart and capable in biochemistry like his father and Curt Conners. While he isn't at their level as he's still 15 years old, but he's quite capable, as seen in this chapter where he creates an antiserum to turn Curt back to normal.
I wanted Jay and Jett to both be smart but in different areas making Jay differ from most Spider-Men who can do both tech and chemical stuff. I just felt it made things a little more realistic in a sense.
As for other Marvel character's yes, there will be some with slight alterations who will appear. I won't say who just yet, but you'll see. Yeah, I put Hell's Kitchen in as a nod, but Daredevil will not appear in this story.
Glad you enjoyed the chapter.
Kival737101 – Sadly, it will not be soon as it'll be a while before Jay finds love. This story is more focused on an overarching plot and not romance. Though his relationship will play a big role one day.
That's all for today. See you guys next time!