I swung over and landed on the veranda, Jessica finally getting off my back. Though if I was being honest, I kind of missed the feeling.
We quickly walked in, just as Sue came rushing out of the lab, holding in her hand a test tube filled with some mysterious blue liquid.
"I got it," she held it up, "it took some time but — OH MY GOD! PETER!" she screamed when she saw my blood-stained uniform.
"I'm fine, Sue," I touched the now fully healed surface, "see? No scars."
She looked scared, "i-if you're sure."
I turned to the formula in her hands, "will it reverse the Lizard formula?"
Sue nodded, "yes, it should be able to do so. In theory at least. I don't exactly have a way to prove it and..." she looked over my shoulder at Jessica, "ah, sorry, but who are you?"
Jessica looked surprised, "I...I'm Agent Drew, I'm Spider-man's liaison for this investigation."
Sue narrowed her eyes, "is that so...oh...oh," Sue's eyes widened, "Subject-D?!"
Drew nodded, "exactly."
"Wait, didn't you help us break into that HYDRA base?" Johnny asked in realisation.
Jessica nodded, "yes, that's right."
"So cool," Johnny blinked, "huh, you look a lot different from before."
"Eyes above the neckline, Johnny," I warned before turning to Sue and the cure, "alright, good job, Sue. This should be enough for us to reverse whatever the Lizard's planning. Right now we need to find the damn machine though."
"Okay, but why are you here?" Sue asked.
"I used a drone to track him," I explained as we all made our way to my lab, "I'm hoping it got something useful before it broke down."
I immediately went to my terminal and began typing away. I pulled up the video file and we all watched as the Lizard entered the zoo with the machine. It entered through the children's petting zoo, and when it came out the other end, the machine was gone.
"I think it stashed the machine in the petting zoo," I grumbled.
"What are the chances of it still being there?" Jessica asked.
"Next to zero," I sighed as I sat down on my chair and opened my mask, setting it aside and leaning my head back, "it's smart...and vicious. Damn thing's more trouble than it's worth."
"Spider! Your helmet!" Sue cried out as she immediately made my head invisible, eyeing Jessica who just smirked playfully.
"It's okay, Doctor Storm, I know he's Peter Parker," the agent chuckled.
Johnny blinked, "how?"
Jessica shrugged, "we're close," she then sat down on my chair's armrest and smiled down at me, "really close."
"Wait...what?!" Johnny cried out in horror, looking at me with wide eyes, "don't you like blondes?!"
"Who said that? I mean, I do like blondes, but I also like all kinds of women," I gulped, obviously trying to distract him. Jessica giggled beside me, not helping!
"And besides, what she means is we have similar powers. Almost identical," there, that should be enough to deflect attention!
Johnny blinked, "so...she's a Spider too?"
Jessica nodded, "yes, I am."
"Woah," Johnny blinked, obviously surprised, "I didn't realise there was someone else with Peter's powers." He blinked, "trust me, I was thinking a lot worse."
"We can guess," Jessica rolled her eyes as Johnny laughed. He had believed me easily enough. But the looks Susan was giving Jessica didn't seem...trusting. She glared, but the woman sitting on my armrest just ignored it, though I'm sure she picked up on the pheromones as well.
"So what now?" Johnny asked.
Jessica sighed, rubbing her temple, "we don't know its plans...we don't know where it's going or what it's trying to accomplish...this is exactly why I hate it when we fight semi-sentient villains!"
Johnny snorted, "I know what you mean. Sandman was such a pain."
"And don't forget about the Chitauri," I sighed, "though at least they had some sort of mission...this thing...it just...it just doesn't make any sense."
Just then Jessica's phone began to ring. She picked it up and immediately her eyes widened. She turned to me, "that was Homeland, the Lizard just attacked Oscorp. He stole the tech they were guarding."
I cursed, "this day just gets worse and worse." I was wrong, it wasn't just clever, it was devious. This was like playing a chess match with a screen drawn over the opponent's side. You won't know what's going to happen until it already has.
I know now I can't just treat this thing as the dumb creature I thought it was going to be...no, it was clever, it had a plan, it had a reason. The Lizard...it wasn't just a by-product of an experiment. It was a threat to this very city.