Chapter 27: Hunt for the Lizard Part Two

Chapter Twenty Seven: The Hunt for the Lizard Part Two:

Eight hours and Spider-Man had it. An antidote to hopefully reverse the effects of the genetically altered lizard DNA that had turned Curt Connors into the monster. Granted, it was untested and it was kind of hard to test something like then when there was a distinct lack of giant mutated lizards. Spider-Man swung down.

“Now the problem is trying to get the Lizard to down the stuff…well that and trying to force him to drink it,” thought Spider-Man as he dropped down. “Now think Spidey, if you were a monstrous lizard going on a rampage, where would you go?”

A moment’s pause and there were several loud screams and Spider-Man swung forward, right into the subway entrance. The loud growling and snarling let him know he was correct. Some early morning subway goers were being terrorized. Spider-Man flung himself down, right on top of the head of the Lizard.

“Okay, Doc, this is for your own good, but you kind of need to drink this antidote to get rid of that nasty lizard breath problem,” said Spider-Man, but the Lizard grabbed Spider-Man before he flung the wall crawler down to the ground. It aggravated his injury from the fight from the sewers and the Lizard jumped forward, jaws bared. Spider-Man dodged.

“That was close, I almost became the Amazing Headless Spider-Man,” thought Spider-Man as he shot a line of webbing around the Lizard but the beast just pulled him forward. Spider-Man slid underneath, with the wall crawler avoiding an attempt for the monster to grab him.

The Lizard turned, with a loud growl and Spider-Man leapt up, as he shot a line of webbing around his enemy. The Lizard was wrapped up but he snapped the webbing and grabbed Spider-Man before he threw the wall crawler to the ground. The Lizard stalked its adversary but a loud bang and a net spiraled towards the Lizard. In seconds, the monster was wrapped up and Spider-Man rose up to his feet, but suddenly, he saw the brutish form of Sergei Kravinoff jump right in front of him.

“Hey, Kravinoff, been taking your vitamins?” asked Spider-Man but Kraven just turned, with a smile on his face.

“Aw Spider-Man, I thought I had smelt you,” said Kraven with a predatory gaze.

“And I took a shower and I still smell!” yelled Spider-Man but he raised his arm and he shot a line of webbing.

“Best to wrap up to this joker, before the Lizard rips his way free, shouldn’t take too long, this guy’s a pushover,” thought Spider-Man but Kraven caught the strand and gave it a pull. The ripple launched Spider-Man up into the air. Kraven sprang right at Spider-Man but the wall crawler dodged the attack.

“You thought you could defeat me that easily, but I have leveled the playing field,” said Kraven as his fist swung and caught Spider-Man right in the chest. The wall crawler slumped, the wind knocked out of him, before Kraven shoved Spider-Man to the ground. He pulled out a spear and tried to impale Spider-Man but it was only a split second too slow. The hero bounced to his feet, as Kraven was momentarily preoccupied in pulling the spear out of a gap in the concrete and Spider-Man jumped at him, both feet extended. A double kick right to the face but Kraven caught the legs and swung Spider-Man. The wall crawler landed right to the ground and Kraven stepped on his chest, like he was nothing. “I expected better sport but I guess I must have leveled the playing field too much. My jungle serum has given me extraordinary abilities and added to my natural cunning, I have got you prepped for the kill.”

Kraven’s boasting allowed Spider-Man enough time to give him a face full of webbing. The mighty hunter was temporarily incapacitated and Spider-Man rushed forward and aimed a punch but it bounced off of the chest of Kraven.

“Whatever this guy put in that jungle serum, it can’t be legal!” thought Spider-Man desperately but Kraven ripped the webbing off of his face, but with a primal look on his face, he grabbed Spider-Man by the throat and pushed Spider-Man against the wall.

“Now, I believe I’ll put you out of your misery by snapping your neck,” grunted Kraven, as Spider-Man felt the air leave his lungs. “A death fitting for such a weak and insignificant vermin such as yourself.”

“Don’t look now, but the Lizard’s right behind you,” gasped Spider-Man, as he saw the Lizard had freed himself right now and was none too happy but Kraven just scoffed.

“Ha, you are just trying to buy yourself some time, I won’t fall for such a clichéd trick,” responded Kraven but the Lizard leapt at Kraven, before the beast grabbed the hunter from behind. Spider-Man dropped to the ground. Kraven was pulled backwards, before the mighty hunter wrestled the creature to the ground.

The Lizard would not go down and reversed the position where it was on top of Kraven, snapping its jaws as Kraven grunted and struggled, before he reached for a dagger inside his belt. Spider-Man found himself against the wall, unable to do much more than watch the spectacle as it unfolded.

The Lizard gave a pained growl as Kraven stabbed him right in the arm with the dagger. Blood dripped right to the ground, but Spider-Man shot a line of webbing, to wrap around the dagger and managed to jerk it out of Kraven’s hand. The hunter turned around, but the Lizard grabbed Kraven, before Kraven was thrown into the air right off of the platform and right onto the subway tracks. The hunter was stunned momentarily.

“Okay, Lizard, listen to me, you need to take this,” said Spider-Man as he stepped forward, with the vial. “Listen to me, Doctor Connors, if you’re still in there, you need to come out of there and take this…”

Spider-Man was knocked right to the ground with a thud and the Lizard stepped around but a flash of the camera went off, as Spider-Man looked up to see the familiar face of Eddie Brock, who looked like the cat who just ate the canary.

“What are you doing down here?” demanded Spider-Man.

“I’m going to get pictures of this and scoop Parker,” said Brock but the Lizard did not appreciate the portrait. It bounded right at Brock, which caused the photographer to take a step back before the Lizard sent him to the ground. For a second, Brock looked to be on the breakfast menu but the Lizard turned away, with a snarl. The creature lost interest and rushed down the subway track.

“Got to get after him!” thought Spider-Man in a desperate voice as he swung down the tunnel. “The mighty hunter’s still on the loose as well, I’ve got to get to Doctor Connors before Kravinoff does.”

Eddie Brock pulled himself up, as he looked at his camera, which still appeared to be in one piece for once. He had a big grin on his face and he pumped his fist up into the air in triumph, before he exited the subway. He would have to get these photographs developed and then he could finally cash in on Spider-Man. He would be laughing all the way to the bank while Parker had lazily slept in on a Saturday morning.

-

Kraven looked around the corridor. He had stepped back to recover for the moment but now the hunt was on much more than ever. He had sensed the Lizard near by but Spider-Man was approaching. He altered his course slightly, but still kept the Lizard in his cross hairs. A battle between himself and Spider-Man before he bagged the beast would only serve as a distraction. Revenge could wait later, right now, he needed to keep his eyes on the prize.

“You are very close, animal, you can’t hide forever,” said Kraven. “I’ve never seen such a creature, but I look forward to rendering you limb from limb!

Kraven tensed, as he sniffed in the air, a very familiar scent picked up.

“Spider-Man is close, but I must allow him to pass for the moment,” sad Kraven, before a grin appeared on his face. Perhaps Spider-Man and the Lizard could weaken each other, allowing the mighty hunter to swoop in and bag two rare creatures. The price that he would garner would be off the charts.

The hunter was poised. When the time was right, he would strike and the spoils of victory would be his.

-

Within the twisted mind of the Lizard, some small fragment of Curt Connors still existed, trapped beneath layers of savage brutality and mindless aggression. Subconsciously, instinct lead the creature to this home, in the early part of the morning. He walked, eyes averted slightly. It was a familiar and thus welcome surrounding, one that he knew. The creature turned, the leaves blew but other than that, there was no signs of life. The Lizard took a couple of steps forward, before he raised his arms in a primal roar and moved forward towards the door. With a solid tug, he ripped the door right off of its hinges and stepped inside the house!

The Lizard paused, as it heard voices and some degree of familiarity as it moved closer indoors.

“When is Dad coming home?” asked young Billy Connors to his mother.

“I don’t know, Billy, but he should be coming home soon,” said Martha in a worried voice. She had heard the news about the lizard creature that was rampaging downtown. It wasn’t very hard to put the obvious result together.

“You just said that last night!” shouted Billy stubbornly but both of them paused, as a loud growl echoed and the Lizard stepped forward, with a primal, savage look on his face. Martha turned and screamed in fear before she realized that Curt had been delayed, the Lizard DNA had taken control, mutating him into this monster.

“Curt, stop, its us, try and remember,” shouted Martha but The Lizard turned to her. For a brief moment, she thought it had worked, but then the Lizard jumped at her. With a thud, she fell to the ground.

“MOM!” shouted Billy in a horrified voice that caught the Lizard’s attention. The Lizard turned forward and stalked the young boy. Teeth were bared and the boy was trapped against the wall, with a mixture of fear and awe. The Lizard prepared to attack but a line of webbing shot out.

It wrapped around the jaws of the Lizard and Spider-Man attempted to pull, but the webbing snapped and the Lizard was free. He stalked Spider-Man but the wall crawler held the vial in his hand, that contained the antidote. With a leap, Spider-Man was on his back, as Martha Connors got up, groggily, before she watched what happened.

“No, Spider-Man, don’t hurt him, it’s my husband!” shouted Martha.

“I’m aware of that,” said Spider-Man as he tried to hold the mouth open, without getting his fingers torn apart but the Lizard was not going to go down without a fight. The beast backed up and Spider-Man slammed against the wall. With a thud, the wall crawler dropped to the ground and the Lizard turned to Spider-Man.

“Curt, stop!” shouted Martha and the Lizard turned around, but that was all Spider-Man needed to recover. He aimed a kick right towards the head of the beast, not to hurt it but merely to slow it down enough to force the antidote down its throat.

“Come on you overgrown gecko, outside,” said Spider-Man and the Lizard rose to the bait, stocking Spider-Man. Spider-Man did a back flip to land outside and somersaulted over the Lizard, before he kicked the beast in the back. The Lizard sprang up and pinned Spider-Man right to the ground. The vial slipped out of Spider-Man’s hand and he tried to get it, but the Lizard just continued to force Spider-Man on the ground.

“Great, breakfast time and guess who’s on the menu?” thought Spider-Man as he struggled and managed to summon up all of his strength to push the Lizard off, long enough to free himself. A line of webbing shot the Lizard right in the eyes, to blind the beast. “Now here’s my chance.”

Spider-Man leapt up, as the Lizard was preoccupied with removing the webbing from his eyes. Spider-Man began to pry the jaws of the Lizard open and uncork the vial. The liquid was inches away from the Lizard’s mouth but the beast gave a primal roar, before it threw Spider-Man off. Spider-Man rolled over, miraculously not spilling the vial and the Lizard swung its tail.

“NO!” shouted Spider-Man as the vial shattered into millions of pieces, to send glass flying in every direction. The antidote splashed the glass and the Lizard knocked Spider-Man down. The back of his head cracked against the pavement, to knock him unconscious.

The Lizard stood right over Spider-Man. The creature stepped to finish off the wall crawler, but before then, a series of darts connected right to the back of the Lizard. The Lizard turned with a loud roar as Kraven stepped back in surprise, none of the darts penetrating the skin but the hunter was undeterred. With a jump, he wrestled the Lizard down to the ground. Kraven rolled the Lizard over, before he forced the beast’s head into the ground. In seconds, his great strength had rendered the creature unconscious, but not dead. It would fetch a much larger price when alive.

The head of Spider-Man rose up, in time to see Kraven tie the Lizard up, so the beast would not move it could awake. Spider-Man pulled himself to his feet but staggered immediately, feeling dizzy, feeling the effects when the Lizard cracked his head against his pavement. He supposed he was lucky, as without his spider powers, that fall could have killed him but right now he was not in too good of a shape, never mind to fight Kraven.

“I don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, once this beast is tagged, you will be my most prized possession,” said Kraven, as he leapt forward, sending Spider-Man facefirst into the ground, holding his head down. “How I’ve wanted to mount for some time, Spider-Man. You will be the prize edition to my trophy room once I have killed and stuffed you.”

“Kraven, listen,” said Spider-Man as he struggled against Kraven but the all too obvious realization was that the hunter could snap his neck should he choose. “That Lizard isn’t a creature…it’s a human…a good man in fact, who made a mistake, let him go, take me if you want, do what you want to me, but he doesn’t deserve this.”

“So he’s a man who turned into this lizard creature,” said Kraven as he let up, while still keeping Spider-Man on his stomach, only enough for Spider-Man to nod. “That changes everything then.”

“You’ll let him go?” asked Spider-Man but Kraven just responded with a cruel laugh.

“Of course not you foolish insect,” said Kraven sadistically. “I will just get higher price on black market for this Lizard creature. Right now, it is time to stay farewell. Any last words.”

“Yeah, the Lizard just broke out and he’s right behind you!” shouted Spider-Man and Kraven turned around, due to the fact that the last time he disbelieved Spider-Man, it did not turn out that well.

He looked and was enraged, he had been deceived once more. Thoughts of rage went through his head, before Spider-Man’s feet did. Spider-Man staggered to his feet, still stunned, but at least he was able to stand. Kraven charged forward, but the wall crawler ducked. Kraven lifted a large rock off the ground and attempted to cave his prey’s skull in with it, but the wall crawler leapt up onto the a truck, before he shot a line of webbing.

The rock was pulled up, before it was swung, but Kraven leapt up, before the rock smashed onto him, before he knocked Spider-Man off the truck to the ground. Spider-Man managed to brace most of his fall and Kraven leapt down, but Spider-Man dodged his attempt, before he swung around a light post, before both feet caught Kraven right in the chest and caused him to crash down to the ground.

Kraven’s ears perked up, a siren approached. He had no desire to fight the police, so he leapt up, before he knocked Spider-Man to the ground.

“The hunt is done for now but I shall return for you later, Spider-Man,” growled Kraven but Spider-Man was not going to be done without a fight. A line of webbing wrapped around Kraven’s legs. Kraven crashed to the ground face first. Spider-Man leapt up and caught Kraven with a series of punches to the face. Kraven forced himself up, but Spider-Man slid underneath his attack, before he managed to take Kraven’s tranquilizer gun from him. Two darts caught Kraven in the neck.

“Spider-Man, I’m not done yet,” gasped Kraven, but he was slowed down. Even the enhanced serum in his body could not stop Kraven from falling. Spider-Man reared back and with all the strength he could manage, he rocketed Kraven backwards with an uppercut right to the chin. Kraven was knocked against a tree, where Spider-Man webbed him against it. Kraven squirmed but the tranquilizer was beginning to take effect and he was mostly paralyzed.

“Once again, the predator has become the prey,” said Spider-Man calmly but Kraven’s eyes widened as he saw some movement behind the web slinger.

“The animal is loose,” managed Kraven weakly but Spider-Man just looked at him in a disbelieving manner.

“Nice try, Kraven, but I’m not about to fall for my own….” Started Spider-Man where he was suddenly knocked to the ground. The Lizard had awakened and ripped himself free sometime during that fight, and needless to say, was quite the pissed off reptile. The Lizard hoisted Spider-Man up into the air and tossed him to the ground. The wall crawler leapt into the air and dodge another tail being swung into his rib cage, as the police cars pulled up, lead by Captain Stacy.

“Freeze!” shouted a young officer pointing a gun at Lizard.

“Yeah, like a giant savage lizard is going to obey orders from the police,” thought Spider-Man cynically.

The Lizard charged them, before he leapt up. He leapt from car to car, before he scaled up the building with the greatest of ease. Spider-Man shakily got to his feet and watched the Lizard run off as quickly as it could manage.

“On the bright side, it looks like you’ve captured one of them,” said Captain Stacy as he looked at Kraven. “We may actually be able to hold him for a few weeks.”

“Hope so,” said Spider-Man as he struggled. He had to catch the Lizard but he had a small problem, as the antidote had been completely smashed. “Listen, Captain, the Lizard…really isn’t a lizard, really a scientist that was experimenting in genetics in ways that he really shouldn’t…”

“Connors, right?’ asked Captain Stacy and Spider-Man nodded. “His wife called us over here, she seemed upset and it isn’t very difficult to put two and two together.”

“Listen, no offense to your force, but you can’t take down the Lizard,” said Spider-Man and that got him several dirty looks and dark mutterings.

“He’s right,” said Captain Stacy firmly to the officers. “Spider-Man is the best chance we have to deal with this problem.”

“I don’t know if I can,” admitted Spider-Man before he reached into his pocket, pulling out a wrinkled sheet of paper. “I created the antidote once and wrote the formula down, so maybe you can…”

“We have a science department that will be able to concoct that antidote in no time,” said Captain Stacy, before he looked at Kraven. “We’ll take him downtown and then get to work.”

“Right, and I have a lizard to catch,” said Spider-Man as he swung off as Captain Stacy looked at the antidote formula. It struck him how familiar the hand writing looked, it was almost like he had seen it before somewhere but this was neither the time nor the place to worry about such things.

-

“Taking out the Lizard, at least long enough for another antidote to be made, not exactly the easiest thing in the world but at least I got the mighty hunter off my back,” thought Spider-Man as he swung around the city but dropped down at the sight of panicked people. “I bet anything that my genetically altered reptile friend is in there somewhere. Alright, show time Spidey, let’s hope you can end this in one piece.”

Spider-Man dropped down as several people ran. The panicked people appeared to be centered around the zoo and quickly, Spider-Man walked inside, as the Lizard stood there, crazed and on a rampage. Throwing all caution to the wind, Spider-Man struck the Lizard with a kick to the side of the head. The creature staggered before he dived at Spider-Man but the web spinner dodged the attack, before a line of webbing wrapped around the Lizard and tripped him up.

“Listen Doctor Connors, I know you’re trapped in there, deep in there, you’ve got to listen to me, calm down, you’ll be back to normal in no…” started Spider-Man but once again the Lizard was in no mood to be rational, as he ripped his way through Spider-Man’s webbing. He charged the hero but Spider-Man scaled the wall. Much to his ever lasting frustration, the Lizard scaled right after him, and turned, before he knocked Spider-Man down. The hero absorbed most of the fall and managed to just barely avoid being torn to bits by the teeth of the creature. The Lizard landed and swung his tail, but Spider-Man delivered an evasive move.

The Lizard rose and Spider-Man avoided another assault, before he shot webbing around the mouth of the creature. With the threat of being ripped to shreds by the teeth, Spider-Man was able to swing in, hoisting up the creature with all of his strength. His shoulder sagged under the weight.

“Forgive me, Doctor Connors, but this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you and believe me, this is hurting me a lot,” thought Spider-Man as he strained against the weight of the Lizard, before he flung the struggling reptile. The reptile landed with a sold thud on the ground and Spider-Man dropped down. “It seems like he still wants to fight but I knocked a bit of the fight out of him, at least I hope so!”

Spider-Man had to duck another decapitation attempt by the Lizard’s tail and he slid underneath. The Lizard ripped through the webbing around his mouth but Spider-Man held his web shooter up, before attempting to fire his webbing, but only a few drops splattered out.

“Of all the times to run out webbing,” thought Spider-Man in frustration, the only thought that went through his head before the Lizard’s tail almost did. Thankfully he jumped out of the way and dropped down, both of his feet bounced off the head of his animalistic opponent, which only served to infuriate it! “Got to slow this thing down, so I can fill back up.”

The Lizard was not deterred by a couple of attacks and Spider-Man had to be creative to lure the creature on a wild goose chase. Spider-Man did a somersault and landed right on the railing that lead to a pool filled with ice cold water.

“That’s it, come to me now,” said Spider-Man as the Lizard dove right at him, but Spider-Man leapt out of the way, swinging from the rafters, as the Lizard splashed into the water. It would take the creature a brief instant to climb out, long enough for Spider-Man to refill his webbing. The Lizard slowly climbed out of the water and Spider-Man struck while the iron was hot.

A thick cocoon of webbing wrapped around the Lizard from the neck down. The creature still struggled but he was weakened from the spill he took. Taking aim, Spider-Man connected with a kick to the head and the creature fell in its trapped form, with a thud.

“Sorry, Doctor Connors, “ muttered Spider-Man in an apologetic tone of voice, as he walked off to head to a pay phone to contact the authorities. He had the creature, hopefully they would have the antidote ready. He looked over his shoulder, half expecting the Lizard to break free and rip him to shreds, but fortunately this time he was down for the count, at least for now.

-

“There you go JJ, top of the line photos of the Lizard, Spider-Man, and Kravinoff,” said Eddie Brock in a cocky voice as he handed them to the fearless publisher of the Daily Bugle.

“Congratulations Brock, for once you didn’t screw up,” said Jameson as he looked at the photos, with a bit of disdain. “Although maybe you would have been better served in bringing me the usual nothing as these photos are absolute rubbish. An abomination, sickening, it’s almost like you’re camera threw up and you handed me the results…I’ll give you fifteen bucks.”

“Per photo?” asked Brock greedily as he looked at the dozen or so photos that he handed Jameson and that caused the Daily Bugle publisher to laugh like a madman.

“Did you ever think of going into stand up, Brock, because you’re a real comedian,” said Jameson as he looked at the arrogant young photographer. “Fifteen bucks for everything and that’s because I’m in a good mood today. As for Parker, the little punk never showed up so when I get my hands on him…”

“Here, Mr. Jameson, I’ve got photos of the battle between the Spider-Man and Lizard,” said Peter as he moved in, bags under his eyes as he looked completely tired but pleased. Jameson got up to snatch those photos away from Peter.

“Beat it Parker, I was here first…” stated Brock but Jameson held up his hand to pause the argument.

“Ah, the web head really got what he deserved in this one,” said Jameson approvingly as he looked at a particularly violent moment where Spider-Man is on the ropes. “Still utter tripe and garbage, I had a cat once that could have taken better photos with the fur balls he coughed up….five dollars Parker.”

“Per photo, Mr. Jameson?” asked Peter and Jameson just responded with another round of laughter, taking several minutes to regain his composure.

“I should shut down this newspaper and open a comedy club with some of the employees I have,” mused Jameson. “Five bucks for the photos, all of them,…Brock, better luck next time but you should have gotten some better shots of the web head being taken down.”

“Jameson seems to be in a rather cheap mood today, more so than usual, man that won’t even buy a good meal these days,” thought Peter but he had to take what he could get these days.

Jameson shoved his photos back into Brock’s hand who crushed them and looked at Peter with the deepest loathing. If it wasn’t Parker, it was Spider-Man ruining his career.

On the other hand, Peter took the payment, without much of a fuss. By this time, Dr. Connors would have been cured, physically at least. Whether he would mentally cured, once he realized the full ramifications of what happened, Peter did not know.

“If anything, this proves that genetic tampering is not a toy,” thought Peter in desperation. “It could happen to me, it’s just happening slower. I know these spider powers are the only reason I beat the Lizard…but if I woke up one day and lost them, I don’t think I would shed a tear.”

-

Herman Schultz sat in his jail cell, hands folded across his lap. He was one of the many thieves that had been put behind bars by Spider-Man. Most people would not be able to pick his face out of the crowd out of all of those who Spider-Man put behind bars. He had just tried to scrape by a living to pay the rent, just a couple of small time jobs, it was not like he was knocking off a major national bank or anything, just a couple of cash registers at a convenience store or two. The web head just had to bully him because he could and send him to a one way trip to jail.

Which was not too bad all things considered, at least he ate on a regular basis but still he could not help but think of what it would be like if he could enact some revenge on Spider-Man.

“Herman Schultz, a friend of yours has posted bail,” said a guard in a bored voice and Schultz looked up, in confusion. He had no friends or family, nothing except for the small run down apart with infestation after infestation that he could barely make rent for.

Still he was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth and he got to his feet. Schultz got to his feet and walked from the jail, as many of the inmates looked, as a man in a suit stood in the hallway.

“Mr. Schultz,” said the man with a nod.

“So I guess you were the one who posted bail,” said Schultz gruffly.

“Yes,” said the man shortly as he waved to Schultz who walked towards a limo. His eyes widened. “I have a job for you, as you were put behind bars by Spider-Man, is that correct?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” said Schultz in a rough tone. “But listen, I’m not about to make the same mistake again in crossing paths with the wall crawler.”

“My boss has an opportunity that I believe will be to your benefit,” said the suited man as the entered the limo and he turned on a miniature television screen, with a large man silhouetted in shadow.

“Hello, Herman, I’m the Kingpin and I believe you will be interested in what I have to say,” said the Kingpin calmly and Schultz sat up immediately, his full attention turned towards the number one crime lord in the city.


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