"Mister Kraven helped us pinpoint Connors' location. He's injured. Ant-Man and the Wasp are going to pick him up." Peter, having received the signal, looked at Cindy, who was ready for action, and then at Dr. Jonathan. "Is the serum ready, Dr. Jonathan?"
"Done. Mr. Kraven's is also done, and so is yours, Ms. Silk, you insisted they be prioritized," Jonathan said, handing one serum vial to Peter and another to Cindy. He then added with some difficulty, "The only problem is, yours, Peter, is still being made. It might take a few more minutes."
"No time. I'll do my best not to get bitten, don't worry. I have my Spider-Sense."
Peter took the serum. Since the Lizard's skin was too tough for injection, the reversal serums were all atomized—but this didn't mean they could be sprayed all over New York. Each person required a serum personalized to their DNA for reversal, and a permanent reversal serum had not yet been developed.
"Ready?" Peter asked Cindy one last time.
Cindy nodded, signaling everything was set. The most crucial task now was to retrieve the lizard serum from the Lizard's person.
This job would ideally be left to Quicksilver, but he was frustratingly hard to contact. Next up was Shadowcat, as the X-Men were rushing back to New York (Peter didn't know where they'd been on a mission). Aside from them, it fell to the Spider-People, relying on their mobility and webs to try and seize the lizard serum.
The two immediately left the lab and headed for the Hudson River.
At this moment, the Daily Bugle was operating at full capacity. A Bugle reporter was broadcasting from the exclusive helicopter high in the air: "We can now see the monster known as the Lizard, formerly Professor Curt Connors, a renowned biologist and employee of Oscorp modified by the late supervillain 'Doctor Octopus,' swimming in the Hudson River! Oh my goodness, its body is longer than that entire speedboat!"
"I have to say, I'm a little unused to news not reported by J. Jonah Jameson."
Peter complained as he leaped from a tall building: "Imagine what Jonah would say: This must be Spider-Man's fault? No, no, that's too simple..."
"Spider-Man should be held responsible for this incident! Without a doubt, it is these irresponsible and incompetent superheroes that our society truly needs to be wary of!" J. Jonah Jameson's voice quickly drowned out the on-site reporter's broadcast, overriding everything: "If Spider-Man truly had the ability to stop the crime, then why didn't he catch the damn monster yesterday and leave it until now?!"
"You like hearing that?"
Cindy was puzzled. J. Jonah Jameson was someone who criticized Spider-Man daily in the news. In Jonah's view, it was unforgivable and irresponsible that Spider-Man, one of the most famous superheroes, refused to take off his mask. So, no matter what Spider-Man was involved in, Jonah always found points to attack him.
Logically, Peter shouldn't like Jonah.
"Who likes hearing bad things said about themselves? But you can't make him shut up."
Peter and Cindy simultaneously hooked onto the underside of the Daily Bugle helicopter without causing it to destabilize. As the two simultaneously dove toward the Lizard, Peter shrugged helplessly: "Besides, if J. Jonah Jameson suddenly stopped talking one day, I'd have to suspect he was replaced by a Skrull."
"A Skrull?"
"Yeah, Mar-Vell mentioned them—a species that can impersonate other creatures."
As the water surface grew closer, Peter yelled, "Act according to plan!" Then, he delivered a Rider Kick to the Lizard's back. The massive Lizard howled, his head and tail both popping out of the water. Cindy, in mid-air, used her web to cling to the plastic bag on his shoulder.
But the Lizard tore the web with a claw. Peter then used the symbiote to directly restrain the Lizard's arms. Compared to the weak webbing, the symbiote's bioplasmic tentacles were much tougher and stronger. The only problem was that he was currently standing on the Lizard, giving him an insufficient foothold.
Venom extended two tentacles from Peter's back, pulling onto the underside of a bridge, trying to halt the Lizard. But the Lizard kept moving forward, his tail thrashing violently, accelerating his swimming. Venom held on tightly, preventing him from advancing.
[I'm about to—oh wait, the bridge is about to give way! Let go before the bridge collapses.]
"Then, let go!"
The sudden release of tension sent both Spider-Man and the Lizard flying. Peter was better off, mostly flying through the air, and Venom could transform into wings to slow his descent. The Lizard was more unfortunate; he tumbled across the water like a giant skipped stone, then fell into the large net Cindy had woven across the river, anchored to another bridge pylon. Layer upon layer of webbing held him securely.
She shot her web, grabbing the atomizing device and the remaining serum from the Lizard's shoulder. At this moment, the Lizard spat out a torrent of corrosive venom, which quickly dissolved the webbing.
"Nice work, Cindy. Take all that stuff to the lab or Avengers Tower to be destroyed."
Peter said this over the comms, taking out the reversal serum prepared for the Lizard. He took a deep breath: "I'll handle the rest."
"Be careful."
"When am I ever not careful?"
Peter chuckled, swinging on a web to quickly approach the giant Lizard plunging into the water. "Hey, Dr. Connors, remember me? Want to stop and talk?"
The Lizard ignored Spider-Man and continued to flee. Peter was much more relaxed, tracking the Lizard using the constantly following Daily Bugle helicopter while joking: "So, you don't have a plan? You know, Kraven just called me, and I'm pretty sure getting bitten by a radioactive lizard won't turn you into the Lizard-Man, so why don't we stop and chat?"
The Lizard finally acknowledged Peter, hurling an oil drum his way.
"My goodness, is that an empty oil drum? Are those things just floating in the Hudson River?"
A web stuck to the oil drum, and Peter immediately yanked the drum to smash it against the Lizard's head. However, at the same moment, a jolt of electricity flashed through Peter's mind.
He saw the scene from the tech exhibition nine months ago—he saw the spider, not biting him, but biting Gwen's hand.
"Oh, no! Not now!"
And so, Spider-Man fell from the sky.
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