The Adventures of Lizard-Man

#Issue 18: The Surprise Attack

Conners sat in the cramped lab area with Devil Dino, who was slowly but surely dying. The ancient being had been in his habitat for so long, breathing specific air and eating specific food thst being rushed out of that environment and forced to breathe the 'free air' and eat store bought meats since the night he saved Peter from Osborne had taken its toll on him. Today, from the state of his condition, Dino had maybe a day to live, maybe hours. In the meantime, Conners did not want to waste what potential lay within the ancient Dinos DNA. Though not a lizard, Devil Dino held ancient reptile DNA which held many similar healing properties and Conners believed this could lead to another serum breakthrough like the one that saved Peter's life. Though he now had a great prosthetic that allowed him use of both arms, Conners still wanted his real arm back and this new formula with the help of Devil Dino's DNA he was certain would give him what he wanted.

While working on this, Conners saw Peter come from the loft yawning from a nap with his Bearded Dragon companion, Dexter, laying up on his shoulder.

"Sleep well?" asked Conners

"Like the dead" said Peter with another Yawn. "But now I need to work. Had this great Idea for a grapple hook to help me get around the city skylines faster"

"Start with this," said Conners, tossing an item from his work bench without looking. Peter caught it with his lizard hand and saw it was a gauntlet-like object made of metal.

"Thanks Doc" said Peter as he then looked up at Devil Dino.

"How's Dino doing? He looks rough."

"He is" said Conner's "He doesn't have long unfortunately. With the lack of science treated food and special air from his habitat, he's aged significantly. I'm trying my best to save him but…" Connors did not bring up the fact that he was really working on a new Serum for himself, but he felt Peter wouldn't understand.

Peter got up and began to pet Devil Dino with his Lizard hand. Dino let out a small whine of appreciation as Peter patted him and said 'You're the nicest Dinosaur I've ever known'.

Unfortunately, this Tender moment was cut short by a small buzzing of energy on metal and an explosion!

Peter went flying from the impact, his civilian clothes shredding from the explosion but he was able to force himself to change into Lizard Man mid-air. Luckily, he was still wearing his refurbished combat suit under his clothes and Dexter latched onto his back, safe from the shrapnel of the explosion.

As he landed on his feet, occupying the new hole made in the pipe he and doc called home, he saw 3 men silhouetted in the smoke. Peter could only assume it to be Osborne's Taskforce, though his mind racked with how he was tracked here.

Quickly, Peter clung to the pipe above with his claws and blended with the shadows as best he could. Doc had flown from the explosion as well but landed on his new prosthetic limb. It broke his fall and luckily, he was conscious and crawled behind what was left of his desk with his good arm while his new prosthetic sparked from the damage.

From his vantage point, Peter recognized Doctor Octavious's silhouette by body shape, but saw the unique arms he was sporting on his back with fascination. They were like 4 mechanical squid arms! He then saw a normal looking man who was sparking some kind of electric energy from his hands. He assumed that to be Max Dillon harnessing his favorite substance, and then the scorpion shaped guy… that had to be Gargan . Took the poison theme very literally Osborne, thought Peter as he watched from the shadows.

"I still feel we should have come in less abruptly" said Otto as he pushed the smoke away with his arms.

"I calculated that myself" Responded Max, as he walked into the the makeshift loft "But I felt the need to test my abilities and a surprise entrance to be our best bet of capture"

"Well I see no one here." replied Octavious "So your theory seems invalid"

"Is no one going to acknowledge the giant creature in the corner?" interceded Gargan as he walked up to Devil Dino. "You must be the thing the professor was riding when he broke out the Lizard punk"

Suddenly Devil Dino showed a spark of energy and clamped his Jaws around the scorpion clad Gargan! He wailed and screamed as Devil Dino bit and clammered his jaws on him, trying to break through the suit Gargan was wearing but suddenly there was a loud syringe-like sound. Devil Dino fell limp while Gargan slid out of his mouth cursing and spitting on the now dead Devil Dino.

Peter felt a flash of rage as he quietly growled in the shadows. He felt Dexter do the same, and saw Doc behind his own vantage point also look bothered but then, he did something unexpected. He pulled something out of his Jacket that looked like a syringe, but before Peter could quietly ask him what it was, Doc injected it into himself!

Doc bit his lip hard and tried to lay as still as possible, but he suddenly made a convulsing movement that got the attention of the Task Force. Within seconds, Octavious was moving Doc's turned over desk with his new arms.

"Well, well Doctor Conners" said Octavious when he revealed the now twitching Doctor.

"Why's he twitching like that?" said Gargan, still wiping Dino Drool off his new dented suit.

Octavious picked up the syringe Doc had used on himself to examine it when asked the question, and that's when Peter made his move.

In a fash, he was on Octavius whose goggles he broke and eyes he scratched with a single wave of his claws. Then, with a quick dodge of Gargan's Scorpion-like tail, he clawed Gargan on his exposed lower jaw while he also took a kick in the face by Dexter.

As Peter got his footing with a cartwheel after those two successful attacks, however, he was suddenly hit by a jolt of yellow lightning in the back. Falling semi limp in a bit of sewage water, Peter saw Max Dillion in his green suit with sparking hands standing over him. Dexter went in to help his friend but was also hit by a spark and ended up knocked out in Peter's arms. Max Then put a hand on Peter saying 'A couple jolts and you'll be out like a light just like your lizard friend kid'. All Peter could do was glare at his enemy, but then suddenly something red and fast hit Max like a freight train!

Also witnessing this while collecting themselves from Peter's attack, Gargan and Octavious got their footing only to see and hear terrible sounds from the dust cloud that was Max Dillion and his mysterious assailant. When Max's screams turned to small whimpers, the two men of the task force clenched in preparation, but what erupted from the cloud was not what they were prepared for.

Dressed in a tattered lab outfit came a 7ft RED Lizard man with a MASSIVE jaw! The roar of the creature startled Gargan and Octavious as he lunged at them with near super speed, slashing and ripping one of octavius's mechanical arms clean off and damaging the Scorpion tail of Gargan to full disrepair. The creature then grabbed Octavious by the throat and roared in his face only to be shocked in the back by the bleeding and broken armed Max Dillion. Seeing this as their chance for escape, the damaged and humiliated Task Force left the sewage pipe the way they came, leaving Peter to stare at the red version of himself.

When he wiped away the grog of Max's electric attack and got a good look at this red monster, he noticed many similar aspects of himself in its scaly features, except the neck and head seemed slightly bigger. Another good word for its differing features was 'Jurassic'. He knew who this was, but he was lost for words and shocked that he would do this to himself. Even as the creature began to transform like Peter did, back to its human form, he just stood there as the Doc was now before him breathing heavily and looking at his new red lizard arm and said 'you never told me how intoxicating the power was'.