Avengers: Dawn of Justice Chapter 10 (Patreon)

The already dark alley was made darker by the sunglasses over Peter’s eyes. He leaped from the wall he’d been adhered to, descending on the thug beneath him.

“Whoa!” the man cried out. “What the fuck!”

He tried to fight back, swinging the pocket knife that Peter had seen him messing with from above. Peter grabbed his wrist, freezing it in place, and gave the man a long hard look.

The terrified face staring at Peter, taking in his sunglasses, low hat, and bandana over his face, was hardly the first that he had witnessed over the last few days. One thug at a time, Peter had launched more than a dozen such ambushes. 

But New York had no shortage of scumbags. No matter how many Peter tracked down, like the man he was currently holding by the collar, they were always the wrong one. 

Peter let go of him, sending the man falling to the ground. After a second of thought, he grabbed the man’s wrist again and squeezed, forcing him to drop the knife. 

The man watched in fear as Peter took the dropped weapon. The fear changed to disbelief when Peter grabbed the flat of the blade and the handle and BENT them. He turned the knife into a bracelet with his strength, tossed the bent knife away, and spent a moment looking down at the man gawking up at him.

“Hey! Some fucker’s messing with Jim!” someone yelled.

Men appeared at the end of the alleyway. There were ten, all of them armed, and Peter felt a twitch of fear through his righteous anger.

Maybe he could fight them off, but he wouldn’t be able to do it cleanly. What would happen if his super strength punched a regular person? 

He’d imagined that extensively… But always with the man who murdered his uncle. Not strangers.

Peter turned and ran, the men giving chase. There was no way out of the alley, since it led to an enormous fence that would take time to scale.

Unless you had been bitten by a supernatural spider. 

Peter didn’t even bother with the fence. He went straight up the wall like it was nothing and left gawking thugs in his wake. He kept running.

He got on the roof, kept going, got to the end, and took a flying leap to the next one. He wasn’t even sure what he was doing at this point. For all his abilities, he just felt so POWERLESS, that he ran with all his might, enjoying the feeling of being able to do SOMETHING.

Until he jumped to a third roof and landed on glass, which gave out beneath his feet.

There was a rain of shards and a hard thump as Peter plummeted into the building. He landed on something vaguely bouncy. When he grunted and took stock of his surroundings, he found that it was a wrestling stage.

Peter staggered up. His sunglasses had come off during the fall. He quickly found himself staring at the mural that was up, showing a luchador in a fantastically bright spandex outfit and mask flipping off of a high rope and executing a complex wrestling move.

Staring at the suit, Peter felt the beginnings of an idea.

LINE BREAK

“Come on, come on, come on!” Gwen said.

She dragged Peter through her workplace. This time, since he hadn’t snuck in, he didn’t have to look around guiltily the entire time. Still, he was wincing.

Gwen caught that and looked back at him. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m just a little sore,” Peter said. 

Gwen looked at him carefully, trying to understand if he meant physically sore, or emotionally sore following the loss of his uncle. She had been walking on egg shells around him since she heard about that, only the idea of bringing him to meet Curt Connors perking her back up. 

Gwen eased up, pulling him more gently to the door they were heading toward. 

“Doctor Connors? This is Peter!” she announced. 

A middle aged man with brown hair looked up. Peter noticed immediately that he was missing an arm. Peter didn’t stare, stepping forward and rubbing the back of his head, trying to leave a good impression on his dad’s old coworker. 

“Hey, I’m Peter… Peter Parker. Richard’s son?” Peter said. 

“Gwen told me.” Curtis Connors stood up, smiling, and clapped the arm that he had on Peter’s shoulder. “She also told me you’re the one who brought this missing research to her. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”

Peter glanced at the table where Dr. Connors had been sitting, spotting papers dissecting and applying the formula he’d found in his father’s things. 

“It was no problem, really,” Peter said.

“It was a problem for me!” Connors said good naturedly. “I’ve been slamming my head into a wall for years… Decades, even! I always felt we were close. Now, I think we might just have it.”

Peter blinked. “Have WHAT, sir?”

“The largest breakthrough in Oscorp history,” Connors said. “Come on, Peter! I’ve prepared a demonstration.”

He took Peter and Gwen into a private lab accessible through the back of his office. In the sterile room was a large cage, within which a collection of three rats were hobbling around, each of them missing a limb.

“Watch!” Connors declared, once Gwen and Peter had both been given safety goggles, just in case.

He hit a button and allowed mist to filter into the enclosure. Peter and Gwen watched carefully, almost entranced, as it enveloped the rats, all of whom began to squeak and squeal.

Their twitching looked uncomfortable and pained for a moment, causing Gwen to grab Peter’s hand. That moment passed quickly however. Once it was over, they stared in amazement as the missing limbs simply grew back.

In under half a minute, it was like they had never been crippled at all.

Connors turned to the stunned teens with a beaming smile.

“I can’t put into words how important this could be. Not just for my career, not just for the company, but for humanity.”

“Are there side effects?” Peter asked, gently touching the glass.

“We don’t know yet. I’ll need to perform extensive testing,” Dr. Connors said. “I WILL make this work, however. You have my word of that. I owe it to humanity to ensure that it’s safe.”

Peter nodded, still slightly stunned. He realized that Gwen hadn’t let go of his hand yet, either, and smiled at her. She smiled tentatively back. He realized that it was the first time he really smiled since his uncle had…

Well, it had been a bit since he felt happy.

When the visit was over, Gwen saw him out.

“I can’t believe we get to be a part of this. It’ll be in history textbooks for hundreds of years, Peter!” Gwen gushed.

“Yeah. As long as it works,” Peter said.

“It does! We saw! Dr. Connors will find a way around any side effects. He’s a genius, Peter, and a good man,” Gwen said.

Peter nodded. He’d had a good first impression of his dad’s old partner. Maybe, Curtis would even share some stories about his dad. Uncle Ben never— well, he HAD never been the kind to share stories easily.

Standing on the sidewalk outside the building, Peter found himself pulled into a kiss. Gwen added tongue, and for a second lust almost overcame his common sense, making him want to drag her into the nearest alley and get busy again.

He reigned in his urges and kissed back, giving her ass a good squeeze as a compromise.

“I’ve got to get back to work.” Gwen’s impish smile hinted at her own impure thoughts. “Bye, Peter. I’ll see you soon. Maybe with less of a crowd around.”

She scampered away, leaving him briefly stunned. Soon enough, Peter turned around, walking down the street. He was wearing a backpack, filled with a very specific load of luggage: a cheap camera and a red suit that he had fastened himself.

It was time to get busy.

LINE BREAK

Aunt May was struggling for money. She tried to hide it, especially while she was grieving, but they were in danger of losing their house if things didn’t change. One income stream just wasn’t enough; Peter was determined to add a second one. He owed his uncle that much at least.

Except Peter was just a high school kid. He didn’t have time to get a fast food job and work forty hours a week. He had to find a way to make money in the time that he had.

Putting his first plan into practice, Peter swung on a web, hurling himself straight up in the air off of a hundred story building.

He let out a strangled cry of adrenaline as he hurtled toward the sun. Compared to running over rooftops, this was a whole extra level of difficulty and danger.

But you couldn’t beat the view.

Looking down, he could see New York the way only a pigeon could under normal circumstances. The city stretched away in breathtaking fashion, viewed at a stunning aerial angle. He brought the camera he’d brought up to his eye and started snapping photos.

Hours later, he walked out of a shop disgruntled, holding a bundle of failed photos and forty measly bucks. 

Even though the view was unbeatable, many of the photos turned out blurry or had poor lighting. Plus, when he went to sell them, the man in the shop had told him bluntly, “Shots of the city aren’t where the money is.”

This wasn’t enough. A whole afternoon for forty bucks wouldn’t make a dent in his aunt’s money troubles. 

No, he needed more. The only thing that kept him from growing too frustrated was that he had an idea.

Just hours after he pulled the stunt, the TV in the shop he just left had been playing nonstop segments about the figure clad in red flipping and flying across the New York skyline. It was the talk of the whole city and every station and paper were desperate for any information about the mysterious man. He could snap a photo of himself swinging around and sell it! That would go for real money. Then, he’d be able to do something!

He was so eager to put the idea into practice that he didn’t head home yet, even though it was starting to get dark.

Instead, Peter suited up once more in an alley, heading out along the rooftops, looking for a good spot to take pictures at. Any rooftop would be okay… But a landmark would be better. The Brooklyn Bridge, maybe? He could see the top of its spires over the roofs from here.

An uncomfortable sensation buzzed on the back of his neck. He squinted at the bridge.

Something was wrong. He felt… Danger. Some sense was warning him about what was that way.

Maybe foolishly, Peter headed for the bridge.

When he arrived, he saw traffic stopped and an area in the middle where cars had been scattered. An accident? No, this was too chaotic for that, it—

Peter’s eyes widened under his mask as he watched some hulking figure lift and THROW a car.

It hurtled off of the bridge, toward the water down below, the landing sure to be fatal to anyone inside. 

Without thinking Peter flung himself toward it, connecting a web to the bridge and swinging toward the plummeting vehicle. 

Someone else got there first, swinging on their own web.

They were wearing a white hoody, the hood drawn down over their face to try and cover as much as possible. Peter knew exactly who it was, unless anyone else could shoot webs from their wrists beyond him and her.

Gwen screamed with exertion, attaching webs to the vehicle and hauling up with all of her might. She slowed its descent… But the webs anchoring her in place were starting to buckle under the weight of what she was attempting. 

Gwen growled, fighting to keep the car up, doing everything she could…

A second pair of webs joined hers, stopping the car, and she looked over excitedly.

“What are you wearing?” Gwen gasped.

His mask didn’t really hide his identity just like her hoodie didn’t hide hers.

“I’ll explain later,” Peter said. “What’s happening up there?”

Gwen grew serious. 

“There’s this… Thing,” she said. “It’s huge, covered in scales, and it threw this car like it was nothing! I don’t know what it is or what it wants!”

She looked up, her hood sliding back as she did. Peter followed her eyes. Up on the bridge, something reptilian leaned over, looking down at them with inhuman eyes. It turned around and ran away, diving off the other side of the bridge, plunging into the water without injury and swimming away.

For a brief moment, Peter considered pursuing, before realizing that there were more important matters to get to. Namely, the people in the car.

Gwen realized her hood had slipped and dragged it back up. She was starting to hyperventilate.

“I moved without thinking. Peter, I was trying to keep all this secret! I don’t want to be known as the girl who can shoot webs, and catch cars off of bridges. I’ll lose my life, my family won’t look at me the same, I—”

“Hey, listen to me,” Peter cut her off. “I’ve got it, Gwen. Slip away. I’ll save them. And nobody will know ME.” He patted the side of the mask that covered his identity.

Gwen slowly nodded. 

Before leaving, she swung closer, pecking him on the cheek.

“Thank you, Peter. I’m glad you have that goofy suit,” she said, smirking.

“It’s not goofy!” he said, but she was already swinging away.

With the webs established the car wasn’t at risk of falling. Peter swung down, staring at the terrified Indian family inside.

“Hey there!” He waved, trying to make himself seem less threatening. “I’m going to get you all back up. One or two at a time, I think. Who wants to go first?”

“Save my son!” said the dad.

“I’ll save all of you,” Peter promised. “But I’ll get him first.”

He swung back up to the bridge less than a minute later, depositing the young boy. Bystanders rushed up, though many of them paused to gape at the man in spandex who had just saved him.

“I’ll be right back. More people to grab,” Peter explained, backing away from the awed looks he was getting.

“Wait!” said a man who looked like me might be related to those in the car down below. “Who… What do we call you?”

Peter hadn’t thought that far ahead. He remembered his webbing, the way he got his powers, and some of the speculation on the news earlier that day.

“Spider-Man,” he said.

He jumped off the bridge, swinging to save the rest of the victims.

LINE BREAK

One day later, Peter sat in his room flipping through papers. He had called in sick to school, lying to his aunt that he’d caught a cold. He felt a little bad about that… But he had a good reason.

Something was tickling his brain, feeling like he ought to be able to put the pieces together and figure out what happened last night. That huge human lizard hybrid wasn’t natural. First he and Gwen got powers, then something like that appeared? Something strange was going on.

The vague feeling he had led him back to his dad’s notes. Peter sat down and read them with extra intensity, really trying to UNDERSTAND what he was reading for the first time. He had to google some terms and others consistently escaped his understanding. 

Which didn’t mean he didn’t make progress. 

“Lizards…” Peter said, staring at the papers. “The treatment uses lizards as the baseline.”

The ability to regrow their tails was something the animals were famous for. Peter had already seen that Oscorp was dabbling in technologies way beyond what was natural. Just look at the spiders that bit him and Gwen, turning them into what they were now.

Doctor Connors was missing an arm. Even though he knew there hadn’t been enough tests, he had a formula that could regrow limbs. He must have used it on himself!

Barely a minute later, Peter sprung off the bed, his eyes turning wide.

Last night, the monster, which the news had taken to calling the Lizard with a capital L, had seen Gwen’s face when it looked at them.

Peter didn’t think anything of it when it seemed like a mindless monster. But Curt Connors knew Gwen. He knew where she worked, maybe where she lived, and he definitely knew where she went to school—

Peter scrambled into his suit and opened the window, flinging himself out, heading to his school as fast as he could.

He had to. Just in case. After Ben… He couldn’t lose Gwen too!

His fears were justified when the school came into view. Smoke was curling off of it and students streamed out into the street, many of them screaming and yelling. 

Peter swung himself over all of their heads, landing on the roof and running across. Eventually, he scaled down the side of a wall, slipping in an open window.

Two girls he didn’t recognize were hiding behind desks in the darkened room. One made a strangled cry when he appeared. Peter said: “Shhh! It’s okay, it’s okay! Have you seen a lizard man anywhere? About eight feet tall, scaly, super strong…”

One of the girls pointed down, toward the floor below, and Peter thanked them before jogging into the hallway. 

Finding the stairs would take too long. Instead, he hit the floor as hard as he could. 

Cracks appeared.

He hit it again with even more might.

This time, the floor gave out, collapsing around him and letting him reach the fight below.

Peter went through floors, walls, and sprinted around corners, chasing the sound of chaos. When he found them, the Lizard had grabbed Gwen’s face and swung her, slamming her against a wall with enough force to make her cry out.

No one was around. Gwen might’ve preserved her identity still, one part of Peter’s brain noted. The main thought on his mind was much more simple.

“DON’T HURT HER!”

He flung himself at the Lizard, punching the transformed scientist hard enough to send him through a wall. Peter crouched next to Gwen. “Hey, are you alright? You’re okay, right?” He sounded desperate even to himself. “I’m okay Pete— Spider-Man,” Gwen said. Even with a red ring around her neck where the Lizard had grabbed her. Even if there was no one around, he appreciated her dedication to keeping his identity a secret. “It… Somehow it found me!”

“It’s Dr. Connors,” Peter said.

“What? No, that’s not possible!” Gwen said.

“The serum did something to him.” Peter stood up. “He’s gone crazy.”

Out of his mind, maybe, but the lizard-human hybrid didn’t lack for cunning. Gwen pulled her hood over her face and slid the collar of her shirt up to shield her face, standing to join Peter even though her hands were shaking.

Seeing two opponents who could fight back, the enemy didn’t hesitate to turn and run. 

Peter and Gwen gave chase. The Lizard went straight through walls, reaching the street quickly. Whenever they caught up and landed a hit, the Lizard would remain unharmed, even when Peter sent him through another wall at one point.

When he reached the street, the Lizard dove into a crack in the road that used to be a manhole cover. Peter resisted the urge to give chase, recalling how adeptly the Lizard had swam the night before. 

He put his hand on Gwen’s wrist, stopping her too to make sure adrenaline didn’t make her do anything foolish. She looked at him gratefully.

A second later, Gwen’s face froze. 

“Freeze! On the ground!”

With the Lizard gone, they were able to clearly hear how close the sirens had gotten. Armed police officers had created a containment barrier around the school, escaping students sheltering behind them.

At the front of the group, wearing a large shiny badge, was a man that bore a striking resemblance to Gwen. Peter looked between their faces, confirming how similar they looked. Gwen stayed frozen, unable to move.

“I WILL shoot! Get on the ground right now!” said the man who could only be Gwen’s father. 

There were about a dozen cops around him at the same time. Peter looked between them, checking out their position and the readiness with which they wielded their guns.

“Get DOWN and get those masks OFF, this is your last warning!” shouted George Stacy.

Peter moved, not thinking too deeply about what he was doing.

He shot forward, shooting his webs to grab two guns and kicking the weapon of another officer, disarming them all in an instant. He sprang through the crowd, who were too scared of hitting their friends to pull the trigger. 

Peter got to Gwen’s dad last. George Stacy tried to shoot but Peter jerked his head sideways at the last second. He grabbed the barrel and crushed it with his hand.

“Get him!” George Stacy yelled.

He didn’t even care about seeing metal crushed in front of his eyes. Most likely, he was seeing red since he thought his daughter was in danger, not realizing she was right in front of him the whole time. Gwen’s clothes had torn and accumulated a thick layer of dust and debris during the fighting, which was probably the only thing keeping him from recognizing his daughter even though her back was turned.

After hesitating, the cops did attack Peter. He knocked them out as gently as possible, striking them all without being touched once. Compared to what Curt Connors had turned into, they might as well have been children.

George Stacy attacked him with a baton. Dodging to the side, Peter cocked his fist back for another light hit when a voice screamed.

“Don’t hurt him!”

Gwen’s voice stopped them both. Peter because he was listening to her request, George because there was no way he wouldn’t recognize that voice.

“Gwen?” His voice was quiet and tremulous. “Is that you?”

Gwen looked over her shoulder, her eyes filled with mixed emotions, showing him her face. Her shirt had slid down, revealing the whole thing to her father, leaving no doubt in his mind that he was looking at his daughter. 

“What happened to you? What have you become?” George asked.

Gwen flinched worse than when she was struck by the Lizard.

She ran, leaped, and fled. Peter followed her, swinging after her as the only one who could. 

George Stacy made no move to follow, staring at them with shellshock written across his face.

Peter winced underneath his mask. This was getting messy.