The stench of the sewers had no effect on Insem's altered, massive form, nor did the cramped space restrict his movement. The foul odors didn't impair his ability to detect scents either, as Connors wasn't native to the sewers.
The most crucial factor was that Connors needed to complete his distant goal. To do that, he required a laboratory, where he could synthesize and refine his gene serum. Considering he needed to move quickly to Oscorp's building, and Manhattan had the most developed underground sewer system in New York, that's where Lynn focused his search.
Lynn pieced together information from news reports about mysteriously damaged stores and estimated the locations of Manhattan's major drainage system transfer points and water treatment nodes. He quickly identified several places where Connors might be hiding.
As Lynn had predicted, Connors was nearby. Insem's altered form easily detected Connors' location using the dispersed sensory tendrils on his head.
As a beast soldier, Insem wasn't bothered by the churning sewage water. He charged fearlessly toward the target with Lynn following behind, waiting for Insem to find his quarry.
Soon, they arrived at a water treatment node and purification facility. Connors wasn't there—a creature that large and conspicuous couldn't possibly hide in such a space. This was likely one of his abandoned facilities.
"For someone with higher education, his counter-surveillance skills are surprisingly good," Lynn remarked.
It was useful, though limited information. Connors had merely relocated his lab without concealing his tracks. Lynn estimated that if SHIELD had surveillance throughout Manhattan's drainage system, they could apprehend Connors within hours.
So Lynn temporarily disabled the entire sewer monitoring system, using his abilities to neutralize the underground cameras. Though this was somewhat like hiding one's head in the sand, it was better than being fully exposed. Besides, Lynn had other plans.
"It's best if the modified Insem doesn't appear on SHIELD's radar."
While Lynn was distracted, Insem had once again detected Connors' trail and began moving his massive body.
Connors suddenly caught an unfamiliar scent that stood out sharply in the sewer.
"Something's coming... strange, I don't recognize it. Doesn't smell human."
By now, Connors had relocated two or three times to avoid Peter Parker finding him. The Lizard Doctor had gone to great lengths.
The hastily assembled laboratory bench that already looked unstable had become even more decrepit after Connors' relocations, yet somehow it still functioned, maintaining a certain "I can't believe it works" quality.
Considering that in this world, Tony Stark could build the Iron Man Mark 1 in a cave with a bunch of scraps, creating potentially catastrophic gene serums in a sewer didn't seem like such a stretch.
While carefully moving his lab equipment to a secure location, Connors left his original spot and hid at the dome of a sewer junction point.
His green vertical pupils cautiously scanned the dark tunnel. No sound came from the unknown regions of the blackness, like a predator lurking before an attack.
"Just my imagination?" Connors wondered.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, a figure appeared before him.
"What is that thing?"
Insem's head tendrils writhed continuously, seeming to have finally located his target. He kept turning his head, surveying the entire sewer.
Connors was momentarily stunned by Insem's appearance. He couldn't identify what kind of creature it was, as it displayed characteristics of various animals melded together.
The sight made Connors deeply uncomfortable—extremely uncomfortable, in fact.
But Insem didn't give him time to continue observing. Within a few breaths, Insem locked onto Connors' position, and in the next second, a massive white figure leaped upward with incredible speed, crashing toward Connors.
The giant claws instantly pierced the body of Connors, who was still trying to determine what this strange creature was and hadn't prepared for the attack.
Meanwhile, Lynn was in a sewer tunnel several corners away. When Insem began fighting, he discovered Connors' trail.
"This is about what I expected. Even if he's transformed into the Lizard, his mindset has changed, and he was a scientist just days or a week ago. He's not skilled in combat."
Lynn rounded several corners and finally saw Connors entangled with Insem.
Insem's body hair and chitin shell proved far stronger than Connors anticipated—completely unlike any Earth creature. His claws, which could easily tear through concrete walls, and the muscles that powered his supernatural strength, gave him no advantage.
Meanwhile, Insem's claws and the four pairs of sharp appendages on his back easily cut through Connors' body, which lacked hard scales for protection.
Fortunately, Connors possessed incredible regenerative abilities, healing almost instantly after being wounded.
The two beast-men battled like strange biomechanical robots, with the difference being that Insem truly was a complete fighting machine without self-awareness, driven by Lynn's commands and fighting purely on instinct.
This was thanks to his former vampire identity, which left him with numerous vicious techniques. Though completely unstructured, they were more than sufficient against Connors, who had no combat experience whatsoever.
The two creatures' battle was pure brawling, filling the underground sewer with the sounds of their blows. The crudely made floor tiles had long since crumbled under their weight.
Metal pipes had broken all around them from their fight, with sewage flowing everywhere, but neither creature cared about being covered in filth.
The battle appeared evenly matched. Connors couldn't penetrate Insem's defenses, while Insem seemed unable to defeat Connors. They could potentially continue fighting indefinitely.
Lynn looked around. With Insem's body and strength preventing Connors from escaping, Lynn decided not to intervene for now. Connors must have a makeshift laboratory here, and Lynn wanted to get his hands on the serum that Connors had spent over a decade researching.
After briefly observing the structure of this processing node, Lynn quickly identified a vantage point. Walking past the fighting monsters' blind spot, with the two beasts still pummeling each other, he headed for his target.
If this scene had background music—perhaps jazz or heavy metal—it would make for quite the music video.
Lynn reached his chosen position and, sure enough, found a rather crude laboratory bench set up in this filthy sewer.
Connors had already completed three vials of gene serum using his lizard-man thinking. High-tech with low technique, it possessed a certain absurd quality.
Lynn reached for the three vials and carefully placed them in the nano-container Connors had prepared nearby.
"Industrial-grade atomizer..." Lynn also noticed a large device Connors had prepared. He immediately recognized what it was—a modified atomizer. Apparently, Connors was planning to take action.
Lynn examined the device, which Connors had modified without exceeding the original machine's parameters. After considering it, Lynn quickly formulated a new plan.
"Time to deal with Connors."
Lynn peered out from the control platform. By now, both Connors and Insem were injured.
Especially Insem—though his body showed no serious external damage, his hasty and crude modifications meant his body was unstable. The high-intensity combat began causing his body to collapse from within.
Fortunately, Lynn had accomplished what he needed Insem to do.
Connors clearly felt increasingly fatigued. Although Lynn didn't yet understand how Connors' biological agent worked, Insem's appendages had injected large quantities of sedatives and muscle relaxants into Connors.
Even with his physique, Connors began showing signs of exhaustion. After all, regardless of how implausible his condition might be, his body hadn't transcended the boundaries of ordinary biology.
With enough anesthetics, he would become tired, especially since Lynn had deliberately chosen multiple anesthetics combined with muscle relaxants. The powerful toxins would be dangerous for ordinary people.
When the Lizard Doctor realized this, it was already too late.
He gradually lost control of his body, though his powerful metabolism would likely help him break free from the drugs' effects before long. But Lynn had achieved his goal.
Carrying Connors' case, Lynn casually walked up to the "Lizard Doctor," removed his hat, and politely introduced himself.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Connors."
A human's sudden appearance clearly caught Connors off guard. He had been fully focused on Insem and completely missed the deliberately concealed Lynn using his psionic abilities.
"You... who are you? How do you know my name? Did Oscorp send you?"
"Oscorp?"
Lynn glanced back at the listless Insem sitting on the ground, then issued him a command.
"Ah, I think you misunderstand. I have absolutely no connection to Oscorp Industries. In fact, I won't have any relationship with them in the future either. You can rest assured about that.
"However, I believe further explanations are unnecessary, as we'll have plenty of time to discuss details later."
With that, Lynn pulled a communicator from his coat pocket.
"Kara."
"I'm here, doctor."
"Send people to transport the cargo."
Lynn gave Kara his location, knowing she would arrive soon. Meanwhile, he deactivated Insem's battle form, returning him to human form.
When Insem reverted, Connors clearly made an unusual movement. It seemed his metabolism truly couldn't be handled by ordinary chemical drugs.
Lynn could see that Connors' powerful tail had begun to move restlessly, with the bone spikes starting to stand erect.
"Your metabolic abilities are impressive, Dr. Connors. Unfortunately, your biological agent isn't perfect. The side effects are regrettable."
Just as Connors felt his strength returning somewhat and discovered that the humanoid Insem was now wheezing and crouching on the ground—seemingly the perfect moment to strike—he found himself completely unable to exert any force.
Numerous psionic tentacles wrapped around his body, and large amounts of life energy began being absorbed by Lynn.
"..."
Suddenly, perhaps due to a qualitative change from quantitative accumulation, Lynn sensed a subtle shift while absorbing Connors' life energy.
"Consuming high-purity energy can further enhance my abilities?"
This vague feeling was quickly confirmed as Lynn continued extracting Connors' life energy. The originally slender purple psionic tentacles began growing thicker, significantly increasing their strength and power output.
As for Connors?
His regenerative abilities proved ineffective against this situation.
Lynn was directly draining his vitality, and without that abundant energy reserve, his superhuman metabolism couldn't function. The residual drugs in his system began taking effect.
"Sweet dreams, Dr. Connors."
As his upper and lower eyelids and nictitating membrane began to droop, Connors finally lost consciousness, becoming a giant lizard snoring loudly on the ground.
Lynn withdrew his psionic tentacles and examined the changes in his abilities. The energy was being slowly converted, becoming part of him. Though he felt no physical enhancement, his abilities were clearly transforming.
"I need to observe what changes occur gradually. Strange—why didn't I have this reaction when absorbing the vampire's dark power before? Perhaps it didn't reach the threshold?"
Lynn summoned his psionic tentacles repeatedly for examination. Truthfully, he hadn't extensively developed his mutant abilities, spending most of his time exploring the knowledge in his mind.
"It seems I should also study my own body carefully."
When Kara's people arrived to collect Connors, they also retrieved Insem. After the brutal modifications and high-intensity combat, Lynn needed to readjust his body, or his collapse was just a matter of time.
"Doctor, aren't you coming with us?" asked one of the vampires.
"I'll take another route. You go ahead first."
These vampires naturally had their own methods for transporting "items" without leaving traces. Lynn wasn't concerned about them leaving evidence, but he needed to distance himself from this vehicle as much as possible.
"Director, some anomalies need reporting..."
"Blood Covenant movement?"
"No, they're behaving themselves. But several of our Manhattan underground monitors have malfunctioned... possibly due to line deterioration."
"Send someone to check."
"I'll arrange it immediately."
About ten minutes later, the nearest SHIELD special agent team, disguised as sewer maintenance workers, came to inspect the situation. By then, Lynn and his group had been gone for some time.
But had Lynn really left?
"As expected, they operate in small teams... no need to complicate things here."
Lynn abandoned his original plan and left the Manhattan sewer.
The SHIELD agents eventually discovered the site where Insem and Connors had fought. The place was a mess, sewage everywhere, with serious damage to the processing node. At the same time, Connors' scales were scattered throughout due to Insem's attacks, and the entire node had sustained severe damage.
"Damn... something definitely happened here. Contact the director and report this..."