At Oscorp, Connors and Ratha were overlooking the mice that were given the injection and now have the leg regrown.

"Cross-species genetics is finally working." Connors said. "I've used the lizard DNA to help Freddy regrow that limb."

"It's a miracle." Ratha said amazed.

"No, it's hard work and promise." Connors corrected. "It's a step closer to the primate lab."

"He doesn't have time for every little step." Ratha said.

"Little?" Connors questioned.

"I just mean he can't wait." Ratha clarified.

"Well, he'll have to." Connors said. "Unless he wants to be a lab rat."

"That's not what I'm saying." Ratha said.

"So, what are you saying?" Connors asked.

"You have to start human trials. Now." Ratha demanded.

"No, I don't, and no, I won't." Connors stated.

"Well, then he's going to die." Ratha said.

"People die. Even Norman Osborn." Connors said, as he began to leave. But Ratha stopped him.

"We are not finished." Ratha said.

"Human trials." Connors said, more a statement than a question. "Where are you going to find the people to volunteer?"

"As far as anyone's concerned, it's for a flu shot." Ratha said. "I might think the Veterans Hospital is a place to start."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Connors said, in disbelief.

"I don't think I am." Ratha said, as Connors began to leave again but was stopped. "It's a little late for shock and indignation. About 15 years late."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Connors said, in denial.

"Richard Parker wore it well." Ratha said. "On you, it's a cheap suit, as it was then."

"I had nothing to do with that." Connors said.

"Is that what you told his son, Peter?" Ratha asked, while Connors looked shocked for a moment.

"I don't know what you're saying." Connors said, wanting to deny it.

"You don't know, or you don't wanna know?" Ratha asked, specifying. "I'll remind you what happened. Richard Parker said just about the same thing then that you are saying now. The clock is ticking, Dr. Connors."

"L..." Connors was deciding on this before finally saying. "I won't."

"Fine." Ratha said. "The formula is ours now anyway. Say goodbye to that arm you have dreamed of. I'm shutting you down. Have your office cleared out by the morning. Your toys can be taken away too, you know. Right, Freddy?"

He left the room, leaving Connors with a broken yet hardened look on his face.

At school, Peter closed his locker and walked away just as Gwen brushed up against his side and Peter pulled down his hood and ruffled his hair looking down at his pretty blonde classmate.

"Hey." Gwen greeted.

"Hi." Peter replied. "How's it going?"

"Where're you headed?" Gwen asked. Peter thought about it for a moment.

"Monday B track." Peter said.

"It's Thursday." Gwen said.

"It's Thursday?" Peter asked, doing a slight double take.

"What happened to your eye?" Gwen asked. Looking at the injury.

"What?" Peter asked.

"You're eye it's pretty bruised." Gwen asked, specifying.

"Oh, oh yeah... no, I don't know." Peter lied, knowing his lying skills were still at less than 0% and well into the negatives.

"It's pretty bad, have you gone to the nurse?" Gwen asked, concerned.

"Mhmm," Peter nodded Gwen gave him a disbelieving look but decided to drop it something for which Peter was grateful.

"Do you like branzino?" Gwen asked, but Peter looked a little lost "The fish?"

"Mmmm no, I know." Peter lied, trying to sound not stupid.

"Well if you want" Gwen said, writing down her address on a scrap piece of paper. "You can come to this address at uh... at 8:00 tonight, my mom's making branzino." She smiled at him handing over the paper. Peter looked down at it his day brightening "Oh it's apartment 2016 I didn't- I didn't write that part down. I don't know why I didn't" She seemed embarrassed but Peter just smiled.

"I can remember it" Peter said.

"2016" She reminded him once more nodding and Peter nodded back.

Connors walked around his lab and he stood between a glass window. He lifted his only arm as the reflection made it look like he had two. He smiled sadly as his this was something that he wanted. Something that he craved. Decided to take matters into his own hands, he went to a machine and pour the formula into an injector. He went to his desk and injected himself. He spasmed for a bit.

At Gwen's apartment, she was studying her books, she didn't notice Peter dropping on her fire escape until he knocked on the window. She smiled and opened the window.

"Hi." Gwen greeted. But she felt something was off. "How did you get out there?"

"The fire escape, you're doorman's intimidating." Peter explained, crawling through the window and into her room feeling a little nervous.

"It's 20 stories!" Gwen stated.

"Yeah," Peter shrugged, as if it was no big deal and for a teen with spider powers it really wasn't. "Is this your room?"

"Yes, this is my room." Gwen said.

"Whoops?" He shrugged and Gwen laughed so he figured she didn't think he was too much of a freak. "Oh" He remembered something. "Hey I got your mom these…" He pulled of his backpack and pulled out a broken bouquet of flowers.

"Lovely." Gwen said.

"Yeah, they're beautiful right?" Peter sighed at his failed gift.

"They're beautiful." Gwen reiterated trying to cheer him up.

"They were nice," Peter said flushing and covering his face with what was left of the bouquet.

"No, they're beautiful." Gwen kept cheering him up.

"I'm sorry." Peter apologized.

"No, it's impressive they actually held together very well." Gwen said.

"I'm gonna keep these" He told her throwing the flowers back in his bag.

"You have your suit in there?" Gwen asked, causing Peter to get nervous.

"My Suit?" Peter asked, scared that she could've figured it out.

"It's for dinner." Gwen clarified. "Are you gonna...? Are you gonna wear that?"

"Hey, hon." George said, walking in her room. He saw that Peter was in the room as well. "You must be Peter."

"Dad, this is Peter." Gwen said.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Peter said, shaking George's hand.

"Nice to meet you." George greeted. "Dinner's ready. Hope you like branzino."

"Who doesn't?" Peter asked, trying to play it cool.

At Oscorp, Connors was asleep until he was startled. He readjusted himself and moved to get up. As he sat up, he heard and 'felt?' something hit his desk. He looked down and saw that his right arm was covered in some kind cocoon. He peeled the shell stuff(AN: I don't know how to describe it.) off and saw a hand revealed. He ripped more of the stuff off. He lifted the arm, still in awe and happiness, that he could feel the bones inside, the nerves. He placed the hand under a lamp, wincing at the heat of the bulb, laughing that he felt pain.

"Emma, it's Curt. Is he there?" Connors asked over the phone.

"I'm afraid not, doctor." Emma said. "The car is taking him to the Veterans Hospital in Brooklyn."

"No. He can't, Emma." Connors said, stammering. "You have to stop him. He..." he suddenly got a head pain.

"I would, but I always lose him on the bridge." Emma said. "I'll make sure Dr. Ratha returns your call as soon as possible." He ended the call as he toppled over.

Connors walked up to a cab. He pulled the handle with right hand but it slipped so he used his left hand and got in.

"I'm going to Holton Avenue, across the river." Connors said, through ragged breaths. "I'm in a hurry."

"You want me to take the tunnel or the bridge?" The driver asked.

"Bridge! Take the bridge." Connors said, with a strained voice as his hand started becoming a claw.

"All right, we'll do that." The driver said, but he heard Connors breathing hard. "Hey, you all right back there? You tweaking man?"

"Just drive." Connors snarled, as his forehead started gaining scales.

"Okay." The driver said, and drove off.

Peter was at the table, trying to cut the fish. But he kept having problems with it.

"You're having trouble there?" Helen asked. "The head goes on the other... Simon, help Gwen's friend with his fish."

"Oh, I..." Peter tried to play it cool, but gave up. "I got no idea.

"Branzino." Gwen whispered.

"George. Tell us about your day." Helen said.

"Did you catch that spider guy yet?" Howard asked.

"No, we didn't catch him yet." George said. "But we will. He's an amateur who's assaulting civilians in the dead of night. He's clumsy, he leaves clues... but he's still dangerous." Peter heard what George said asked decided to start a conversation.

"He's assaulting people?" Peter asked. "I'm not sure. I mean, I saw that video... with him and the car thief, and I think most people would say that he was providing a public service."

"Most people would be wrong." George said. "If I wanted the car thief off the street, he'd already be off the street."

"So why wasn't he then?" Peter asked.

"Let me illuminate you." George broke it down. "The car thief was leading us to the people who run the operation. It's a six-month-long sting. It's called strategy. I'm sure you're aware of the term. You've heard about that in school?"

"Yeah." Peter answered.

"Good." George said.

"Obviously, he didn't know you had a plan." Peter said, taking a bite of his fish.

"You seem to know a lot about this." George said, starting to get suspicious. "Know something we don't? Whose side are you on?"

"I'm not on anyone's side." Peter specified. "I saw a video on the internet."

"You saw the video on the Internet." George said. "Well, then the case is closed."

Well, no." Peter said, not knowing that he was digging his own hole deeper. "If you watch the video. Maybe send you a link? It looks like he's trying to help."

"On the Internet he's being made out to look like a hero." George said, more a statement than a question.

"No, no. I'm not saying he's a hero." Peter said, wanting to avoid that topic.

"What are you trying to say?" George asked, wanting Peter to be specific.

"He's trying to help." Peter said. "He's trying to do something the police can't."

"Something the police can't?" George asked.

"I don't know." Peter said, trying to brush it off.

"What do you think we do?" George asked. "Sit around eating doughnuts with our thumbs planted up our asses?"

"George." Helen said, shocked.

"Up your what, dad?" Howard asked.

"Howard." Ms. Stacy reprimanded.

"He stands for what you stand for." Peter said. "Protecting innocent people from bad guys."

"I stand for law and order." George explained. "That's what I stand for. Okay? I wear a badge. This guy wears a mask like an outlaw. He's hunting down criminals that all look the same like he's got some sort of personal vendetta. But he's not protecting innocent people, Mr. Parker." Seeing that this was going nowhere, Peter decided to add something else.

"The Avengers wear masks." Peter pointed out.

"The Avengers." George scoffed and Peter seethed a bit. "A lot of good they've done. We'd all be better off without any heroes."

"They saved New York." Peter defended.

"And killed a lot of people doing it." Stacy retorted.

"More would have died without them." Peter almost yelled. "The police were out of their depth and New York is lucky to have them."

"Let's get some air, Peter." Gwen said wanting to break the tension. "Dad, we need to talk."

"Yes, we do." George said, as Peter turned to him.

"Thank you for having me." Peter said. "I'm sorry if I insulted you. It was not my intention."

"You're welcome." George said, still a bit peeved at the conversation.

"Branzino was real good, Mrs. Stacy. Thank you." Peter said, as he followed Gwen down the hall and out onto the roof.

"You're welcome." Mrs. Stacy said.

Peter left with Gwen. Once outside, Peter left out a breath of relief.

"Well, that was something." Gwen said.

"I'm sorry." Peter apologized. I thought he was going to arrest me at one point."

"No, I wouldn't have let him arrest you." Gwen assured him. "What happened to your face?"

"I wanna tell you something." Peter said.

"Oh. ok" Gwen said, as she waited. Peter opened his mouth then closed it then opened it again and well it didn't exactly come out right.

"I've been bitten." Peter said, scrunching up his face up after the words left his mouth.

Gwen seemed to think it was the right thing to say though because she looked at Peter in a way he'd never imagined that she'd ever look at him.

"So have I." Gwen responded back.

"Ok" Peter said, knowing that's not what he meant. "Ok ok ok ok I've gotta tell you this one thing, I've got to tell you this one thing." He repeated more to himself than to her. "And it's about the vigilante and the car thief." Peter rambled knowing this probably wasn't the best way to tell her but he already established that Gwen Stacey made him an idiot just by being near him. "Alright?"

"Oh Ok." Gwen said, mistaking the talk. And wow Peter felt like an ass.

"No no no- don't- no no!" Peter rambled. "Ok forget about that, I'm not gonna talk about it. I'm gonna talk about me, Ok."

"What about you?" Gwen asked.

Peter stuttered more before he was able to form a semi-understandable sentence. "I wish I could just tell you, but I can't" He made a motion as if trying to speak and stopped. "It's hard to say."

"Just say it." Gwen said.

"I don't know." Peter said, not exactly sure how to say it.

"Say it," Gwen said again and Peter turned away from her and the blonde got really confused "What?" Peter looked at her and shook his head and Gwen rolled her eyes "Oh forget it."

She walked away from him and Peter closed his eyes making a split second decision. He used his webbing to spin her back to him and it was probably the smoothest move he'd ever pulled. Gwen gaped at him trying to form words she looked up at him in shock but Peter didn't let her speak instead he kissed her and she kissed him back.

"You're spider-" Gwen tried to say.

"Shut up." Peter whispered before kissing her again.

"Gwen." Peter vaguely heard her mother call her but he was too distracted to care until "Gwen!" Gwen pulled away turning toward her mother and Peter probably had a dumb lovestruck look on his face. "You're father want's you to come inside right away. Ok?"

"Ok yeah," Gwen whispered and Peter turned back to look at the city.

"Gwen?" Her mother urged her along.

"I'm coming." Gwen and Peter looked at each other for a minute and Gwen laughed. Peter made to follow her back in- his Spider sense tingled but not in the normal way. He could feel the difference like it wasn't him in danger but someone else was. And then his hearing picked up the sirens and he turned to look. Gwen looked back at him and Peter moved toward the ledge of the roof looking toward the sound of panic. He didn't even look back before jumping over the edge.

"Oh, I'm in trouble." Gwen whispered to herself.

Black Widow was riding down the street on her motorcycle, looking at the video and photos of Spider-Man on the screen placed on the handlebars, now in his new suit.

"Just who are you?" Natasha asked to herself.

She turned the corner and looked up and saw a taxi that looked like it was ripped in half. She walked to the part that was destroyed and saw a lab coat that hung on the shredded part. She also saw that there was a person in the driver's seat. Quickly she stuffed the coat in her motorcycle and ran to the driver to make sure he's ok.

"Are you ok, sir?" Natasha asked. But the man looked at her with fear in his eyes. "What did this?" The man pointed to the bridge. She turned to the bridge just as a monstrous roar was heard. She got on her motorcycle, revved up the engine and sped to the bridge.

At the bridge, Ratha was in the back seat waiting bored.

"Will you please find out what is going on, Alfred?" Ratha asked the driver. The driver got out as the car behind him lightly tapped his car. "Excellent." All of a sudden, another practically rammed in his car. "Hey!" He was about to yell, until he saw everyone screaming and running.

"What is that?"

"Oh, my God! I don't know!"

"Get back in the car!"

"Help! Help!" Ratha said, kicking the window.

Peter swung to the top of the pillar as he looked down and saw some kind of monster. He quickly took off his clothes as he was wearing his suit underneath. As the creature was throwing cars over the bridge, Spider-Man swung in and webbed them to the bridge. Ratha saw that it was getting closer to him. He felt the car and his body get weightless and he could do nothing but hang on for dear life.

"Incoming!" Spider-Man yelled, as he tackled the monster. He quickly webbed Ratha's car before turning his attention to the monster. All of a sudden, he heard a motorcycle engine and saw a woman jump off and kick the monster in the face. Then she turned to him and he instantly realized who this was: Black Widow.

"Black Widow?" Spider-Man asked, in awe.

"Yes." Black Widow said. "But after this is done, I've got some questions for you. So you'll have to come with me."

"W-wait a minute." Spider-Man said. Suddenly they hear a man.

"Somebody help!" A man yelled frantically. "Help me! My kid is trapped!"

Both Spider-Man and Black Widow looked back at the retreating form of the monster.

"I'll handle the kid, you get that thing." Spider-Man said.

"This isn't over." Black Widow said, before taking off on her motorcycle in the direction. Spider-Man swung down to the car.

"I want my dad! Dad!" The boy yelled, as Spider-Man ripped the back glass off.

"Hey, hey. Hey, buddy. It's okay." Spider-Man tried to calm the boy.

"Get away. Help!" The boy continued to scream. Spider-Man decided to take off his mask.

"Hey, look." Spider-Man said. "Just a normal guy, all right? Wanna hold this? Hold my mask." He dropped his mask as the boy caught it. "All right. What's your name?" He looked at the tag on his bag "Jack?"

"Yes." Jack said.

"Let's get you out of here." Spider-Man said, slowly climbing down. "Okay, stay very still."

"All right." Jack said.

"Okay, I got you." Spider-Man said. What neither of them realized was gasoline going down the side of the car as Spider-Man got to Jack. "Okay, look. I'm gonna undo the belt. You're gonna hold on to that seat in front of you. On three."

"All right." Jack said.

"Okay, one, two, three." Spider-Man said, undoing the belt. "See how easy that was? You did a great job. All right, okay." Suddenly, his senses went off as he saw fire spreading around the car as it fell. He quickly fired a web at the bridge as he caught the falling car. But it led to Jack falling to the front seat. "Jack, climb now."

"I can't." Jack said, scared.

"Yes, you can." Spider-Man said, then he got an idea. "Put it on, the mask. It's gonna make you strong. Jack, trust me. Put it on." Jack put the mask on his face. "There you go. That's it. That's it, buddy. Okay, now, climb." That's when Jack started climbing. "Come on, Jack." He didn't see the bumper starting to bend. "Do me a favor and move little faster, okay, bud? You're doing great, buddy. You're doing great. That's it. Keep coming. Keep it coming. Keep coming." It was then that the bumper finally broke, causing the car to fall. "No!"

Jack screamed as he fell, but Spider-Man quickly fired a web at Jack, catching him as the car fell in the water below. Spider-Man breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled Jack up. Spider-Man, with his mask back on, pulled him and Jack up as his dad was waiting.

"Jack." Jack's father cried out happily. "Oh, God. Thank God. You okay? My son. My son. Oh, my son. My son." Spider-Man saw the interaction and looked down. The father and son looked at the masked person.

"Who are you?" The man asked.

"Spider-Man." The hero said, before swinging away. The cops arrived at the scene so Spider-Man swung under the bridge to avoid them. Later, Peter was in his room, still wearing his suit and looking at his mask, trying to contemplate what happened tonight.

In the sewers, the monsters arm was dissolving as its form changed. A few moments later, Curt Connors awoke from the water, breathing heavily and trying to comprehend what happened. He began crawling until he began walking. He saw some lizards crawling along the pipe.

"Beautiful." Connors said, as he went deeper into the sewers.

Black Widow had lost track of the monster due to the speed it had. Suddenly, she pulled out the coat from earlier tonight. She saw the name on the breast pocket and immediately recognized the name.

"Oscorp." Natasha whispered. "I haven't heard that name in a while. Not since..."

Her mind flashed back to when she was close friends with two people in SHIELD besides Clint Barton. One was a man that wore a brown jacket over his black shirt with blue jeans. The other was a woman a few years older than her but just as beautiful. She had brown hair and eyes and a black SHIELD suit similar to hers.

"Richard, Mary." Natasha whispered, as a tear fell before she quickly wiped it before looking at the sky. "I miss you two." She then headed back to the hotel she was staying, where she would contact Fury.

This took longer than intended, but I should be grateful it's even out. And so should you.

So, Black Widow herself was friends with Peter's parents. This is part of the story I have planned, but if you have suggestions for me to do, please let me know.

But other than that, here's the next chapter. Next time, Peter tries to undercover the secret of the monster and Natasha makes a connection.

As always, let me know your thoughts.