"But… what about the other two sites?" Gwen's voice trembled with concern. "People are getting hurt. The casualties are rising."
"Relax, Gwen." Jack Kadere gently placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You're not the only hero out there."
As he spoke, he glanced off into the distance—toward the direction of Stark Tower.
"Yeah, Gwen, we can't be everywhere." Jessica Drew, always more pragmatic, shrugged. "We just do what we can. Let's move fast—the faster we act, the more lives we save."
"…Okay. I'll trust you guys."
Gwen was deeply empathetic, but in moments like this, she trusted Jack's calm even more than her own instincts.
The decision made, the two heroines launched into action.
Just before they left, Jack raised his hands and sighed. "So what exactly am I doing here then?"
"You're in charge of coordinating! Base ops, remember?"
Jessica gave him a quick thumbs-up before crouching down, coiling her muscles, and launching herself in a high arc across to the neighboring rooftop.
"Later~!"
Gwen gave a playful salute, dragging two fingers across the brim of her white hood before firing a strand of web fluid and zipping off into the night.
Watching them swing and leap away with fluid grace, Jack gave a helpless shrug. "I'm going to the bathroom," he muttered to himself.
Then he turned back toward the rooftop entrance. "Skye, the club's in your hands for now. If anything comes up, talk to Barbara. She knows how to handle things."
Skye blinked in disbelief. "…You serious right now?"
…
Across town, atop a building dozens of stories tall…
Two massive reptilian creatures were rapidly scaling the structure's facade. They were Lizardmen—mutated forms of once-human beings. One of them had a heavy, cylindrical metal canister strapped to its back. Whatever was inside, it clearly wasn't for public use.
With claws sharp enough to pierce concrete, the creatures climbed effortlessly, ignoring the sirens and chaos below.
Down at street level, a squad of police officers had already arrived. Blue and red lights flashed, but their presence seemed almost ceremonial—there was little they could do.
"The pistols can't even scratch 'em," muttered one officer, both hands trembling as he clutched his sidearm. He leaned hard against a patrol car, sweat running down his brow. "We're out of our league here."
"Hey, at least nobody's died on this side—yet." Another officer, crouched behind the vehicle, peeked out nervously. "The other attack sites aren't so lucky."
"What do you think they're doing, climbing all the way to the roof?" the first officer asked.
"Hell if I know." The second officer hesitated, then added, "Maybe they're going up to… mate and spawn more lizard monsters?"
"…Wow. That's… dark."
The idea sounded ridiculous, but horrifyingly plausible.
"I swear, if we end up dealing with an army of lizard people, I'm quitting," the second cop groaned.
As absurd as the speculation was, it wasn't entirely off base.
Dr. Curt Connors—once a respected scientist—had indeed planned to "expand" his species. His device, now mounted to his back, was capable of dispersing his lizard serum as an airborne mist. With it, he could forcibly mutate entire crowds into mindless reptilian hybrids like himself.
He reached the rooftop and began setting up the device.
But he wasn't alone.
Trailing behind, eyes narrowing with grim resolve, was Peter Parker.
His gaze burned with clarity. In a sudden motion, Peter lunged at Connors with explosive force!
Caught off guard in the middle of calibration, Connors had no time to respond. Peter slammed into him with enough strength to send the Lizard skidding across the roof—right to the ledge.
"NO! Peter!! What are you doing?!"
Sparks scattered from Connors' clawed feet as he scraped across the rooftop, finally halting himself just inches from the edge. He barely held his ground against Peter's strength.
"I'm sorry… Dr. Connors," Peter growled, muscles straining. "But I won't let anyone else go through this. Especially not Thompson!"
The clash between them had been inevitable. Their ideologies were incompatible—Peter saw the mutation as a curse, while Connors believed it to be the next step in evolution.
"You... Peter," Connors roared, his voice shaking with fury, "I never imagined you'd be so narrow-minded! Just like the rest of them—afraid of change, afraid of progress! You're trying to stop the evolution of mankind!"
Below the rooftop, a nearby NYPD surveillance drone hovered into position, its camera feeding live footage back to the precinct.
"Is this the backup Chief Stacy mentioned?" muttered one officer, watching the feed.
"A drone?" another scoffed. "We've got lizard monsters in three boroughs and all we get is a flying camera?"
"Be thankful—it's armed," said a third officer, eyeing the targeting system.
Police Officer A squinted at the footage. "Wait… are they fighting or mating?"
Officer B groaned. "Obviously fighting."
"They're almost the same thing in this town," Officer A muttered.
Officer B ignored him. "Actually, this might be the perfect chance. They're distracted. We should deploy the drone's weapons."
"Hold on—something else just showed up!"
...
On the rooftop, Peter pushed harder, trying to force Connors over the edge. But Connors, fueled by rage, braced himself, his muscles bulging beneath his half-reptilian form. He started pushing back.
Suddenly—thud!
A shadow dropped in from the adjacent building, crashing into Peter with incredible force.
"Peter Parker!! It's you! Die!!"
Peter was knocked to the side. Startled, he turned to face the attacker—his forked tongue flicked out instinctively. "Hisss… Who the hell are you?"
Emerging from the shadows was someone—or something—even more grotesque than Connors. The attacker's body was covered in a slick, black substance. A jagged maw stretched across its face, filled with razor-sharp teeth. Bulging, white, pupil-less eyes glared at Peter with primal hatred.
"I am… Venom," the figure snarled, voice guttural and otherworldly.
It was Flash Thompson—no longer fully human.
His mind twisted by rage and grief, his body consumed by the alien symbiote.
"Peter Parker… Today's the day you die."