The Lizard Reborn Rough Draft

Chapter 4: The Panic

Shortly before the Transformation:

Peter was swinging around New York City as the famous Spider-Man once more tonight. He was just doing a typical nightly patrol, just looking around for crooks and generally having fun swinging around. He had a backpack filled with his old clothes that he was trying to get home real quick. Then, suddenly, his Spider Senses had gone off out of nowhere. He looked around intuitively for danger, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. However, Peter knew better, he has had these powers for a little over a year now, and he knew that even if things seemed alright, his senses never lie. He realized that they were pointing him over to where Dr. Connors worked, so he began to swing over there to do a quick check up.

When he arrived, he saw that all of the lights in the building had been turned off. Except for Dr. Connors'. Peter looked closely at the windows, the blinds covered up his view, but he could see the shadow of a man in a lab coat pacing around. His mind went back to what happened at the lab that day and how upset Curt was, he began to worry that he was obsessing over his work. He wanted to go in there and help him, but he couldn't just crash through the windows as Spiderman. If Connors was in a bind, breaking down his windows would just make the situation worse. No, he had to be more subtle, besides, Connors knew Peter Parker, so he'd probably be more willing to talk if he was out of costume.

He swung up to the top of the building. Thankfully, the door up there was unlocked, probably because no one expected for a burglar to get up here in the first place. He slowly crept down the stairs, making sure not to make too much sound that would freak out the doc. As he began to walk down, his Spider Senses went off again, directing towards Connors' lab. Then he heard the doctor say "I promised" followed by a loud jabbing sound. This made Peter pick up the pace a bit more, slowly beginning to realize what was going on in there.

"Doc, please don't tell me you just did that..." Peter whispered to himself as he began to change out of his spandex into his normal clothes. Thankfully, he was just on his way to quickly dump his clothes into his home, so he had a backpack with some clothes to turn into. He debated over whether to just charge in as Spiderman, but then he realized that might give away his identity since nothing seemed out of place enough here for Spidey to intervene, at least for now.

He kept on trying to pick up the pace as he began hearing the noises from his lab get louder and louder as he heard thuds and cracks from below. He concluded that was the reason his Spider senses went off, and whatever was going on, it probably wasn't good.

Soon though, he was finally able to finish dressing up and began to make a beeline towards Connors' lab, but as soon as he reached the floor he was on, he heard it. An enormous roar suddenly burst out from the labs. A roar so powerful, it made the entire floor shake. Peter clutched his ears as the noise was too much for him. It was so loud it made him stop completely in his tracks for a second. The roar was so intense, it reminded him of Godzilla. Then, it finally stopped and he began to run towards the lab and finally reached the door. He swung it open only to find a sight he would not forget.

Right in front of Peter's eyes was a hulking reptilian monster looking down at the floor. It seemed like it was recovering from something and didn't seem to pay him no mind at the moment. Peter slowly began to approach it, not wanting to spook whatever it was. He wasn't afraid of a fight, his powers would help with that easily, but he would still rather reason with the beast than provoke it.

"Are...are you alright?" Peter asked.

The creature suddenly looked up, its bright yellow eyes wide open, looking right at Peter in what looked like shock.

"P...Peter?" The creature said in a low, beastly rumble.

"Dr. Connors?!" Peter gasped in shock.

"PETER!" The doctor shrieked as he sprung upright and began to run towards the corner of the room. He curled his body up to try and be as small as possible, shaking from the shock as if he was shivering cold. "LEAVE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"

"Doc!" He began to run towards the beast he now understood to be Dr. Connors.

Connors looked up at him and hissed "I said stay away from me! I don't know what's happened! I don't know if I'll hurt you! JUST LEAVE!" He was even trembling in his speech.

"Doc..." Peter said in a more calming tone, "It's ok, I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be!" Curt screamed back with a terrified look, "I don't know if there are any further side effects! I'm a living biohazard!"

"Curt, what did I say earlier today, calm down. Deep breaths, you're not gonna find any side effects from freaking out like that."

Connors followed Peter's advice, he began to finally think about what just happened after all of the constant emotional whiplash. He was starting to calm down, but was still heavily shaken up. The very first thing he noticed was that it was suddenly real chilly in the room. "Well... if you're going to stay... could you hand me my lab coat?"

"Of course, where is it?" Curt pointed his shaking clawed finger at where he left his shirt and coat. Peter grabbed it and tossed it over to him. Curt put it back on, and it remarkably still fit him. It was tight, yes, but he could still wear it alright.

"T...thanks Peter."

"Do you need anything else? Some water? Maybe a blanket to...keep warm...?" Curt slowly nodded his head.

"In...the breakroom..." Connors sputtered out. Luckily, Peter took some trips there while he was volunteering here, so he knew where the room was. Soon, the reptilian beast that is Connors was huddling under a blanket slowly sipping water from a plastic cup. Peter gave him some time to calm down and reevaluate his situation. As the realization of what had happened set in, his panic began to be replaced with melancholy.

"Martha...Billy...oh lord..." He whispered. "How am I going to provide for my family like this? What are they going to think?" His breathing grew faster.

"It's ok, doc, just breathe."

"Peter, if something happens to me... someone has to look after them..."

"Nothing's happening to you."

"Oh lord...Billy, I'm so sorry..." A tear streamed down one of his yellow eyes, "All I wanted to do was to hold you in my arms..." His speech grew shaky, "I'm sorry Jenkins. I failed you. I failed everyone." He began to whimper which eventually evolved to a crying fit.

It was a bit surreal for Peter to see a huge beast like Curt act like this. Especially when his loud cries and roars made the room shake. Still, he could understand how he felt. He remembers this is not too different from how he was when his Uncle Ben died. So he patiently waited for the doctor to let it all out. When he was done, Peter began to speak. "Why did you do this? Why did you take the serum?"

"I was desperate. I couldn't get another animal. I was being an idiot."

Then, as they were talking, Connors phone began to ring again. He gently pulled it out of his coat, only for him to accidentally crush it under his own strength. "Are you kidding me?!" He yelled in frustration. "That was probably my wife, she must be worried sick about me!" He then took a long sigh, "What do we do now?"

"Well, I mean, your serum made you into a lizard with lizard dna, so I'm sure if we reverse engineer it with your own dna..."

"...we could reverse the transformation! Peter, that's amazing!"

"Welp, then let's get started."

"You're gonna help me out?"

"But of course, I'm already here, so why not?"

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" He got up on his two feet and was about to give Peter a hug, but soon realized that if he tried, he'd probably break his spine, so he stopped himself right when he outstretched his arms.

"Now then, let's get started."