New York — Streets of Manhattan — Morning
A car speeding at full throttle tore through the crowded streets of Manhattan, dangerously weaving between other vehicles while, inside, three criminals loudly celebrated their score.
Still riding the adrenaline of their escape, they laughed loudly as they admired the stacks of freshly stolen cash.
Sitting in the passenger seat, one of them rummaged through the bag containing their loot before lifting it up excitedly.
— “Guys! There’s more than six grand in the bag!”
At that announcement, the driver burst out in excitement without even trying to hide his enthusiasm.
— “Fuck, that guy really had a shitload of money in his car!”
— “Hell yeah, he fucking did!”
In the back seat, their third accomplice leaned slightly forward.
— “Hey! How are we splitting this?”
The driver frowned.
— “Huh? What do you mean, ‘how’?”
— “Well, we gotta do the math! Six thousand divided by three, how much is that?”
The first criminal hesitated.
— “Uh… give me two seconds…”
He immediately pulled out his phone and opened the calculator.
The driver stared at him for a few seconds before his eyes widened.
— “Wait! Are you seriously telling me you don’t know how to divide six thousand by three?!”
— “Of course I do! It’s just faster this way!”
— “Are you a fucking idiot or something?!”
While their escape had somehow turned into a math debate, the third criminal suddenly seemed to remember that they had a much more urgent problem.
He leaned slightly toward the window and nervously scanned their surroundings and the buildings rushing past them, searching for a red-and-blue figure that had become far too familiar to the city’s criminals.
— “Oh, by the way… you guys see that damn spider anywhere?”
— “Oh yeah, right! Hold on, I’ll check.”
The second criminal quickly glanced around several times, checking the streets, the building facades and even the sky between the skyscrapers.
Yet there was no sign of the hero.
Convinced that they had managed to lose him, he turned back toward his accomplices confidently.
— “Nope. We’re good, that asshole isn’t—”
He didn’t even get the chance to finish his sentence.
Something suddenly grabbed him and, with a startled scream, his body was violently yanked out of the vehicle, disappearing from the car in a fraction of a second.
— “Fuck! What the hell was that?!”
— “OH SHIT! Hurry up!”
Completely panicked, the third criminal turned toward the window to understand what had just happened.
His eyes landed on their accomplice, now hanging from a pole several meters behind them, completely restrained by a thick web.
But he barely had time to process the situation before another figure caught his attention: right behind the car, Spider-Man was sprinting down the street at full speed, rapidly closing the distance between them.
— “HEY, GUYS! WAIT FOR ME!” Spider-Man shouted.
The red-and-blue hero gave them a big wave while continuing to run.
— “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me…”
Panicking, the criminal still in the back seat immediately began searching around for their gun, frantically rummaging through the car without managing to find it.
The closer Spider-Man got, the more frantic his movements became.
— “Dude, the gun! The gun!! WHERE’S THE FUCKING GUN?!”
While continuing to drive at high speed, his accomplice hurriedly opened the glove compartment, pulled out a gun and handed it to him.
— “Here! You better fucking hit him!”
The criminal immediately grabbed the pistol, cocked it and leaned part of his body out through the window before opening fire on Spider-Man.
Gunshots erupted through the street as bullets flew toward him, but the Web-Slinger kept running, chaining together acrobatic movements with bewildering agility, dodging every projectile before suddenly planting his feet against the ground.
With one powerful leap, he soared above the speeding vehicle and landed directly on its roof.
— “Kids… that’s not a toy! Hand it over! It’s confiscated!”
— “Shut the fuck up and take this, asshole!”
Furious, the criminal pointed his weapon toward the ceiling and fired several times, hoping to hit Spider-Man through the roof of the car.
Alerted by his spider-sense, Spider-Man immediately moved, agilely sliding across the bodywork to avoid every bullet tearing through the metal beneath his feet.
After several more shots, he took advantage of an opening to disarm his opponent before yanking him out of his seat and throwing him from the vehicle.
A web immediately shot from his wrist and caught the criminal in midair, neatly slamming him against a wall where he remained suspended, completely immobilized.
The driver, meanwhile, was completely stunned by what had just happened.
He was caught somewhere between frustration and panic.
— “Fuck, is this a joke?! I’m surrounded by idiots!”
Now alone in the car, the last criminal desperately tried to continue his escape when suddenly there was no longer any sound coming from the roof.
It was as if Spider-Man had simply disappeared.
He nervously looked around, but before he could even understand where the hero had gone, Spider-Man suddenly appeared in front of the windshield, hanging directly in front of the car, his masked face only a few inches away from the glass.
— “…Hi!”
Overcome by uncontrollable panic, the driver violently jerked the steering wheel and immediately lost control of the vehicle.
The car skidded for several meters before tipping violently onto its side and beginning to roll over.
Spider-Man reacted instantly and leaped to the ground to intercept the vehicle as it fell, using his strength to gradually absorb its weight before carefully setting it upright again on the asphalt.
Once the danger had passed, he pulled the last thief out of the vehicle, restrained him with his webs as well and left behind one of his usual little notes for the police before disappearing without waiting for them to arrive.
Midtown High — Afternoon
An hour later, the classroom at Midtown High was calm, with everyone seemingly occupied in their own way.
Gwen was paying close attention to the lesson while Harry was already showing every sign of being deeply bored.
A little farther away, Liz and Sally quietly whispered to each other while Flash, far less concerned with what was happening at the board, kept his eyes glued to his phone.
At the front of the classroom, the teacher finished writing the last few instructions on the board before turning toward his students.
— “Alright, very good! I’ve written everything you need to study for next week on the board. There may be a test, so don’t take this lightly!”
At that moment, the classroom door quietly opened and Peter appeared in the doorway, slightly out of breath after once again arriving late.
The teacher barely even glanced at him, as though Peter’s late arrivals had become such a common occurrence that he had simply resigned himself to them.
After quickly apologizing, Peter crossed the classroom and made his way to his seat.
As he sat down, he gave Gwen a small smile in greeting, but she didn’t respond.
Only Harry returned his smile, before immediately noticing the unusual coldness between his two friends.
The two friends then began speaking quietly to each other.
— “Uh… am I imagining things, or is Gwen pissed at you?” Harry asked.
Peter grimaced.
— “Uh… yeah.”
— “What happened?”
— “It’s… complicated.”
The answer, far too vague for Harry’s liking, only fueled his curiosity even more.
He leaned slightly toward Peter, clearly determined to get a real explanation out of him.
— “What do you mean, ‘complicated’? Come on, tell me!”
Peter shook his head.
— “No, forget it. It’s better if we don’t talk about it.”
— “Come on! Tell me, man!”
— “No. Besides, Gwen wouldn’t like me telling everyone about it,” Peter replied in a slightly firmer voice.
Harry crossed his arms.
— “But I’m not ‘everyone’!”
— “Maybe… but still.”
Realizing that he wasn’t going to get anything more out of him, Harry eventually gave up, though not without looking slightly disappointed.
He leaned back in his chair and finally decided to change the subject.
— “Alright, fine, whatever. Anyway, did you know that—”
— “WHAT?! SERIOUSLY?!”
Flash’s shout suddenly echoed throughout the entire classroom.
He abruptly jumped out of his seat, interrupting both Peter and Harry’s conversation and the general calm of the class.
Every head immediately turned toward him, while the teacher briefly closed his eyes, already looking exhausted at the thought of having to deal with yet another interruption.
— “What… now…?”
Flash held up his phone, clearly far too outraged by what he had just read to care about his teacher’s reaction.
— “No, sir, this is serious! The Daily Bugle just published an article about Spider-Man calling him a criminal and a threat to New York! This is bullshit!”
At the mention of the Daily Bugle, Peter felt a slight jolt inside.
He certainly hadn’t expected to find out that a newspaper was now portraying him as a threat to the city, especially after everything he did every day to protect its people.
— “The Daily Bugle? Me, a threat? Seriously?! For once, I agree with Flash: this really is bullshit…”
The teacher let out a long sigh.
— “Thompson… I know you’re a fan of his, but we’re in the middle of class…”
— “A fan? No, I’m not just a fan!”
Liz immediately rolled her eyes.
— “Here we go again…”
Sally leaned slightly toward her friend.
— “Tell me, does he annoy you with this guy in private too?”
Completely ignoring his classmates’ exhausted reactions, Flash continued his monologue with the same enthusiasm, clearly incapable of passing up an opportunity to talk about his favorite hero.
— “Seriously, I don’t even know how to explain it… He’s just incredible! Have you seen the way he swings through the air? The way he fights? He saves people, and it’s awesome!”
A collective sigh immediately swept through the classroom.
Judging by everyone’s reactions, this had to be at least the tenth time that week Flash had launched into a passionate speech about Spider-Man.
Peter, meanwhile, discreetly watched him from his seat, caught somewhere between amusement and the irony of the situation.
— “If only he knew the truth. And to think that, right now, he’s my number-one fan… hard to believe.”
Peter continued watching him for a few moments, but his amusement gradually faded as older memories resurfaced.
It almost felt strange to think back to a time when Flash and he had been close, considering how far their current relationship had drifted from what it once was.
His expression hardened slightly as he wondered, once again, how things could have changed so drastically between them.
— “And to think we used to be really close… I still wonder how our relationship went from close friends to… this.”
Still lost in thought, Peter didn’t realize that he had been staring at Flash for several seconds.
Flash eventually noticed, of course, and true to form, immediately reacted aggressively.
— “What?! Why the hell are you staring at me like that?!”
The remark abruptly pulled Peter back to reality.
— “Huh? No, sorry, I was just lost in thought…”
Sally immediately seized the opportunity and jumped into the conversation.
— “Yeah, right… just admit you were checking Liz out again!”
A sudden silence fell over the classroom and, almost simultaneously, every pair of eyes turned toward Peter.
He remained speechless for a moment before clear exasperation appeared on his face.
— “But I wasn’t even…”
Realizing that trying to defend himself would probably only make things worse, Peter let out a deep sigh and gave up before he could even finish his sentence.
— “Forget it. I don’t have the energy to argue with you guys.”
— “What?! Are you fucking kidding me?!”
Before the situation could escalate any further, the bell rang throughout the classroom.
Clearly relieved to have an excuse to put an end to the beginning of an argument, the teacher quickly spoke up before his students could start leaving.
— “Oh, thank God! Alright, class is over. Get home safely, and don’t forget to study what I told you earlier! There may be a test!”
It only took a few seconds for the classroom to become almost completely empty.
The students quickly packed their things and left, while Peter remained standing near his desk.
The teacher’s final words had only just registered in his mind when a particularly unpleasant realization suddenly hit him.
— “Study? A test? Shit.”
Having missed part of the lesson because of his late arrival, Peter had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to study.
He quickly got up and hurried over to the teacher before he could leave the classroom as well.
— “Sir, could you tell me what we’re supposed to study, please?”
The teacher gave him an apologetic grimace.
— “Sorry, Parker, but I erased everything. Stacy probably wrote it all down, like always. Go ask her to share her notes with you.”
At that answer, Peter’s urgency immediately disappeared.
After their recent argument and the coldness Gwen was still showing toward him, asking her for a favor was probably the last thing he wanted to do.
— “Ask Gwen? Great…”
— “Alright… I’ll ask her. Thank you, sir. Goodbye!”
Without wasting any more time, he left the classroom as well.
New York — Connors Laboratory — Late Afternoon
After school, Peter and Gwen went to the Connors’ laboratory to continue their training alongside the Connors family.
The two high school students were carefully cleaning the laboratory, each working on their own side of the room as they dusted the tables, various pieces of equipment and the materials used by the Connors.
Despite the silence between them, both remained focused on their task until Martha’s warm voice suddenly echoed through the room and caught their attention.
— “Peter! Gwen! Come over here, please!”
Intrigued by the call, Peter and Gwen stopped what they were doing and headed toward Martha, wondering what she could possibly want to show them.
— “What is it, ma’am?” Gwen asked.
— “Is everything alright?” Peter added.
Martha greeted them with a smile that was both mysterious and reassuring.
Beside her stood a large box completely hidden beneath a sheet, which only made the two teenagers even more curious.
— “Oh, everything’s perfectly fine, don’t worry. I simply wanted to show you something.”
Peter raised an eyebrow.
— “Show us something? What is it?”
— “I’ll let you find out for yourselves… but I’m sure you’re going to like it. Especially you, Peter.”
Without giving them any more information, Martha grabbed the sheet and pulled it away in one quick motion, revealing several terrariums lined up side by side.
At the sight of what had just been revealed before them, Peter and Gwen were both stunned.
Gwen quickly recognized a spider they had seen during their previous visit, while Peter almost immediately fixed his eyes on one of them with an expression of genuine shock.
— “Hey, wait…!” Gwen began.
— “No way…! That’s…!” Peter continued.
Seeing their expressions, Martha smiled.
— “That’s right. The red-and-blue spider is indeed the one that bit you during your school visit. The others were created and studied by us more recently.”
— “They’re… they’re beautiful…” Gwen murmured in amazement.
— “Yes, aren’t they?”
Peter, meanwhile, could barely take his eyes off the red-and-blue spider.
After everything that had happened since that infamous bite, seeing it alive in front of him again created a strange feeling, as though he had suddenly come face to face with the starting point of all the upheavals that had transformed his life.
— “Whoa… I thought it was dead. It feels so weird seeing it again.”
Still fascinated, Peter slowly approached the terrarium until he was standing directly in front of the glass.
His eyes followed the spider’s movements with a mixture of wonder and nostalgia, while the countless events that had happened since their first encounter naturally came flooding back to him.
— “Hey… Do you remember me? Because of you, my life completely changed. I’ve had problems… a lot of problems. But I’ve also been able to help so many people. So… thank you.”
Gwen continued observing the different specimens for a few more moments before a detail in Martha’s explanation sparked her curiosity.
As attentive as ever, she turned toward her to get more information.
— “Why do you say you created them recently? The red-and-blue one already existed during our visit… so why did you wait so long to create the others?”
At that question, Martha’s expression became slightly more serious.
She took a moment before answering, clearly aware of the consequences the incident during their previous visit had caused.
— “After Peter was bitten, there were a few complications. We preferred to suspend some of our research for a while. Sometimes, it’s better to keep a low profile.”
Peter immediately nodded.
— “One hundred percent agree.”
The answer had come out almost instinctively.
After all, since becoming Spider-Man, Peter himself had discovered just how important keeping a low profile could be… even if, in his case, actually managing to do so was a completely different story.
— “I try to do that too… but it’s not exactly my specialty.”
After observing the spiders for a few more moments, Gwen finally looked away from the terrariums and glanced around the room.
She then realized that one person was still missing since their arrival.
— “By the way, where is your husband? I mean, Professor Connors.”
— “Oh, Curtis… he’s been locked in his office for a while. I told him to come out, but he said he was too busy.”
Peter then thought about the couple’s son, whom he had met on their first day at the laboratory, and noticed his absence as well.
— “And Billy? He’s not here?” Peter asked.
— “No. He wasn’t feeling well, so I asked a friend to watch him at home.”
Peter nodded slightly before turning his attention back toward the laboratory.
His eyes casually wandered across the different shelves filled with scientific equipment until something suddenly caught his attention: several vials sitting a little farther away, containing a strange translucent yellow liquid.
— “And that? What’s that?”
Martha turned toward the vials.
— “Oh, those… they’re DNA purifiers. Like the name suggests, they remove foreign DNA from an organism. For example, if you’d developed worrying symptoms after your bite, we would have had you drink this liquid. It would’ve eradicated the spider DNA inside you and returned you to normal. Fortunately, you’re perfectly healthy. We developed this right after your bite: if we create something new, we also need to plan a way to erase it. Well… if necessary.”
Peter’s curiosity immediately intensified.
He turned his attention back toward the vials, now observing the liquid inside them with much greater interest as a question naturally came to mind.
— “So… it works on any foreign DNA? Not just the spider’s?”
— “That’s right!”
At that confirmation, a slight shiver ran through Peter.
Until now, he had listened to Martha’s explanations with simple scientific curiosity, but he suddenly realized that this liquid concerned him far more directly than she could ever imagine.
If the purifier truly was capable of eliminating any foreign DNA present in an organism, then the spider DNA that had fused with his own was no exception.
In other words, a few sips of that liquid could potentially take away his powers and turn him back into a perfectly normal teenager.
Despite that unsettling thought, Peter made sure not to show anything in order to avoid raising suspicion.
— “Well… that’s really impressive, Professor. We’re very lucky to be here.”
But the moment he finished his sentence, a violent warning suddenly tore through his mind.
His spider-sense had activated with brutal intensity, alerting him to imminent danger before he could even understand where it was coming from.
— “WATCH OUT!” Peter shouted.
Reacting instinctively, Peter grabbed Gwen and Martha and quickly threw them farther away to get them out of the path of danger.
The instant he moved them, a door flew through the room at full speed, passing exactly through the spot where they had been standing only seconds earlier before crashing farther away.
Peter immediately turned toward them to make sure they hadn’t been hurt.
— “Are you okay?!”
Still shaken by what had just happened, Gwen nodded.
— “Yeah… thanks.”
— “What the…?!”
Still in shock from what had just happened, all three of them slowly turned their attention toward the entrance of Curtis Connors’s office, where the door had been blown away and where the impact had come from.
A massive and unsettling silhouette stood in the now-shattered doorway.
The thing stepped out of the office, and what they saw was absolutely terrifying.
An enormous humanoid lizard more than six feet tall stood before them, silently watching them.
— “Am I dreaming, or is that…” Peter murmured.
— “A lizard?! What the hell is that doing here?!” Gwen exclaimed.
While Peter and Gwen were still trying to understand what they were looking at, Martha suddenly seemed to reach an entirely different conclusion.
Her expression shifted from shock to horror as she recognized something familiar in the creature.
— “Curtis…? Curtis, is that you…? Don’t tell me you started again… I told you to stop!”
At the sound of his name, the creature froze.
Clearly confused, it stared at Martha without moving, as though something inside it had reacted to her voice.
For a brief moment, its aggression seemed to fade behind a strange hesitation.
— “It’s me, honey… you recognize me, don’t you?”
Beside her, Gwen couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
— “But Professor! That thing can’t be your husband!”
Before Martha could answer, Peter’s spider-sense activated once again.
This time, he had almost no time to react.
The Lizard suddenly spun around and violently swept its enormous tail through the room, striking Martha and sending her flying farther away.
Seeing the same attack heading toward Gwen, Peter immediately stepped in front of her to protect her and took the impact head-on.
The force of the blow sent him flying across the laboratory before he crashed heavily farther away.
— “PETER!” Gwen screamed.
The Lizard then turned its attention toward Gwen.
It remained still for a brief moment, as though hesitating over what to do, then suddenly reached its claws toward her.
Before she could escape, the creature grabbed her firmly and fled, carrying her away with it.
— “CURTIS, NO! LET GO OF GWEN! DON’T HURT HER!” Martha shouted. This story is hosted at g.com.
From the other side of the laboratory, Peter struggled to lift his head and saw the creature disappearing with Gwen trapped in its claws.
At the sight of that, the pain caused by the impact immediately became secondary.
— “Gwen…!” Peter thought, worried.
Despite the force of the blow he had just taken, Peter forced his body back into motion and painfully got to his feet.
Before pursuing the Lizard, he rushed toward Martha, who was still lying on the floor, to check on her condition.
— “Mrs. Connors! Are you okay?!”
The scientist grimaced.
— “Yes… I’m alright.”
She tried to sit up before grabbing Peter’s arm.
— “Listen, Peter… go home.”
Peter remained speechless for a moment at that request, unable to understand how Martha could ask him to leave when Gwen had just been carried away right in front of them.
— “What?”
— “It’s too dangerous. You’re under my responsibility! So please… go home. Don’t worry about Gwen. I’ll… I’ll take care of it.”
Despite her words, her condition spoke for itself.
Still on the floor after the violent blow she had just taken, Martha clearly wasn’t in any condition to pursue the creature.
Peter understood that immediately and, above all, there was no way he was going to abandon Gwen while she was in danger.
— “With all due respect, you’re hurt, and Gwen is in danger. Do you really think I’m just going to go home? No way!”
— “Peter, no! You don’t stand a chance against him!”
— “Sorry, ma’am. But I can’t just look the other way.”
His decision was made.
Peter quickly grabbed his backpack and, before leaving the laboratory, took one of the vials of DNA purifier he had been looking at only moments earlier.
Without wasting any more time, he rushed toward the exit, leaving Martha behind.
— “Nice-guy Peter Parker can’t do anything against a monster like that… but Spider-Man can!”
Once outside, Peter slipped into an alley out of sight and hurriedly opened his bag.
Within moments, he put on his suit, then climbed the walls up to the rooftops before launching himself across the city.
Now, only one thing occupied his mind: finding Gwen as quickly as possible.
New York — Streets of Manhattan — Late Afternoon
As he crossed Manhattan swinging between the buildings, Spider-Man quickly noticed unusual commotion in the streets below.
Several pedestrians seemed panicked, which immediately made him think the Lizard might have passed through there.
He landed on the roof of a small building and called out to the people below in a voice loud enough to be heard.
— “EXCUSE ME! DID ANY OF YOU SEE A LIZARD OVER SIX FEET TALL COME THROUGH HERE?!”
Among the pedestrians, a man who was still visibly panicked immediately reacted and pointed toward a manhole a little farther away.
— “Y-Yes! I saw it! It almost attacked us, then it went that way!”
Spider-Man immediately jumped down from the roof to join the man below, still taking the time to make sure he knew what to do before continuing his pursuit.
— “Alright, thanks! If you’re hurt, don’t move. Call emergency services and wait for them.”
Without the slightest hesitation, he reached the manhole indicated by the pedestrian and climbed down into it in pursuit of the creature.
— “I have to find her. And fast!”
Peter moved through the sewers for several long minutes, going as quickly as possible while keeping all his senses alert.
His eyes eventually spotted another open manhole farther ahead.
He immediately headed toward it and climbed back to the surface, where he discovered a chaotic scene: several cars had been overturned, injured pedestrians were being treated while police officers tried to secure the area and regain control of the situation.
In the middle of all the commotion, a familiar voice suddenly called out to him.
— “Spider-Man?!”
Peter immediately turned his head and recognized George Stacy among the officers present.
The surprise was mutual.
— “Mr. Stacy?!”
George Stacy walked toward him, visibly relieved to see him.
— “Hey, kid. Can you explain what’s going on? We’ve been getting calls for several minutes. Panicked people are talking about a giant lizard causing chaos all over the city. Is that true?”
Standing in front of him, Spider-Man didn’t have time for long explanations.
The situation was already serious enough, but he knew that what he was about to tell George would make things far more personal for him.
— “Yeah… but that’s not even the worst part.”
His tone became more serious.
— “That creature is Curtis Connors. Gwen’s professor and mine. And he has… your daughter.”
At those last words, George’s expression changed instantly.
All of his attention immediately focused on Spider-Man as the concern of the police officer gave way to that of a father.
— “What?! You mean he’s holding Gwen hostage?!”
— “Yeah. And I have to find him before something happens to her! Do you know where he went?”
Before George could answer him, one of his officers hurried toward them.
— “C-Captain!”
He was struggling to catch his breath.
— “I’ve got information! The creature is heading toward the Brooklyn Bridge!”
— “The bridge?!” George repeated.
Spider-Man reacted immediately.
Now that he knew where the Lizard was heading, every second was precious.
— “No time to waste! I’m going! Follow me by car!”
George turned toward his men.
— “Alright! Everyone in the vehicles! We’re heading to the bridge!”
While Spider-Man was already heading toward the bridge, George mobilized his men and made his way toward the police vehicles.
Behind his authority and composure as captain, only one thought now occupied his mind.
— “Hang on, Gwen… Dad’s coming.”
New York — Brooklyn Bridge — Late Afternoon
The Lizard was climbing the enormous metal structure of the bridge at full speed, moving with terrifying ease despite Gwen still being trapped in his arms.
Unable to free herself and watching the ground grow farther and farther away beneath her, the young girl tried, despite her fear, to reason with the man she still hoped was somewhere behind that monstrous appearance.
— “Professor Connors, if that’s really you… please, snap out of it! You’re not yourself anymore! Let’s get down from here!”
Once he reached the top of the structure, the Lizard roughly dropped Gwen onto the metal platform.
The young girl barely had time to regain her balance before the creature straightened its massive body, raised its head toward the sky and let out a ferocious roar, as if asserting its dominance over everything around it.
Gwen, meanwhile, remained paralyzed in front of the monster, terrified and fully aware that she wouldn’t be able to escape on her own.
— “Oh my god… Peter, come… please.”
At the same time, Spider-Man finally reached the base of the bridge, while below, the police were beginning to deploy around the area.
He immediately looked up toward the heights of the structure and spotted, far above, two silhouettes he recognized without the slightest hesitation: the Lizard and, right beside him, Gwen.
— “I’m coming, Gwen.”
Without wasting a single second, Spider-Man launched himself upward.
He ran along the structure, jumped from beam to beam and repeatedly fired webs to propel himself higher and higher, chaining together acrobatic moves to reach the top as quickly as possible.
Within moments, he got close enough to the creature to shout at the top of his lungs.
— “HEY! LIZARD!”
The monster abruptly turned toward the source of the voice, and so did Gwen.
Spider-Man was already flying toward him through the air, his fist ready to strike while firmly holding the vial of DNA purifier.
His goal was clear: use the element of surprise to make Connors swallow the liquid and immediately put an end to his transformation.
But the Lizard reacted in time.
With one powerful movement of his body, he swept his tail through the air and struck Spider-Man head-on, sending him flying into the void before he could reach his target.
Under the force of the impact, the vial slipped from Peter’s hands and slid across the metal platform until it came to a stop right in front of Gwen.
Still trembling, she quickly crouched down and grabbed it before it could fall as well.
— “Professor… I’m begging you… snap out of it!”
The Lizard slowly turned toward her and began moving forward.
Gwen instinctively backed away, but the creature kept closing the distance between them until she could feel its hot, foul breath against her.
The monster was now only a few steps away, close enough to reach her at any moment.
But before he could do anything, Spider-Man suddenly appeared and leaped onto him.
Without giving him time to react, he fired web after web with incredible speed, circling around the creature while using all of his agility.
The strands wrapped one after another around his arms, legs and enormous tail until his entire body was completely immobilized.
For a few seconds, Peter’s movements truly resembled those of a human spider wrapping its prey in a web.
— “Let’s finish this.”
Once the Lizard was immobilized, Spider-Man immediately searched for the vial with his eyes.
When he no longer saw it where he had lost it, a slight nervousness began to take hold of him until a trembling voice caught his attention.
— “H-Here…”
Peter turned around and saw Gwen still holding the vial in her hands.
An immense wave of relief suddenly washed through his chest.
— “I thought I’d lost it. Thanks.”
He immediately took the purifier and headed toward the Lizard, who was still trapped in his webs.
Without wasting any more time, Spider-Man forced the creature’s jaws open and poured the entire contents of the vial into his mouth.
But the moment he finished, his spider-sense suddenly went wild, warning him of immediate danger.
The Lizard suddenly let out a ferocious roar and, in an explosive burst of strength, tore through the webs restraining his limbs.
Freed from his bonds, the creature flew into an uncontrollable rage and rushed straight toward Gwen, his arms raised and claws extended.
— “What?! How did he manage to—”
Peter didn’t have time to finish his sentence, or even step in front of her.
The Lizard reached Gwen and violently drove his claws into her side.
Under the force of the blow, the young girl staggered, stumbled backward several steps, then finally lost her balance at the edge of the structure.
Her body tipped into the void.
For a fraction of a second, everything seemed to stop around Peter as he watched her fall, powerless.
— “NOOOO!!! GWEN!!!”
Behind him, the purifier was finally beginning to take effect.
The Lizard let out a cry of pain as his enormous body started trembling.
Little by little, his scales disappeared, his limbs returned to human proportions and his monstrous figure gradually receded until Curtis Connors reappeared.
But Peter was no longer paying any attention to him.
Because for Gwen, it might already be too late.
TO BE CONTINUED.