I’m Not Becoming Spider-Man - Chapter 67: Beating Up the Lizard (Patreon)

"I have to say, if I had any choice in the matter, I'd never set foot in a sewer." Peter eyed the manhole cover Gwen had lifted, sighed, and started down the ladder ahead of her.

"Be glad it isn't the rainy season and we're not in the middle of downtown," Gwen told him as she followed.

The tunnels were relatively dry, and the smell wasn't quite as unbearable as he'd feared.

"Next time, I'm bringing a couple of wetsuits," Peter muttered as he climbed. "And another thing..."

He glanced up at Gwen descending the ladder behind him. Her spider suit was designed to fit closely so she could move freely, and it showed every contour of her figure.

From this angle...

Wow.

"What?" Gwen asked.

"Ahem. I was saying your suit could do with a few variations. Something for underwater work, for example."

"I'll get around to that." Once she could afford it, anyway. She really needed to figure out how to earn some money. Being a superhero was ridiculously expensive.

She'd never imagined that money would become such a problem. Worse still, she couldn't let George find out how much she was spending, or he might think she was blowing all her money on weed.

So much for her carefree school life.

"Anyway, what I was trying to say was... WHOA!"

Peter had been paying so much attention to Gwen above him that his foot slipped off the rung. He plunged toward the bottom of the shaft. Gwen jumped after him, caught him with a web, and swung them both safely to the ground.

"Okay. Where do we go from here?" she asked.

"Hang on... This way!" Peter checked his tracker and pointed down a passage.

...

"Martha? Martha, aren't you finished yet?!"

"I... I'm a little constipated!" Martha was hiding behind a pipe, drenched in cold sweat. All she could do was pray Peter and Spider-Woman arrived soon.

"Martha! Are you lying to me?!"

"N-no, of course not..." Her heart lurched. She drew two steadying breaths and realized she couldn't keep this up. She needed to find somewhere safe before Connors lost patience.

She crept along the pipes toward an exit, but even in his present state Connors noticed something was wrong. He abandoned his work and charged after her.

Martha forgot all about appearances and ran. She squeezed into a narrow pipe just as a tremendous impact sounded behind her. Then a clawed hand reached into the opening.

"AAAAH!" Her terrified scream echoed piercingly down the tunnel.

"Martha! Why are you rejecting me?!"

Connors's roar reverberated through the sewers. Peter and Gwen, who had already reached the junction, turned toward the sound at the same instant.

"There he is. Be careful, Peter," Gwen said.

"You be careful!" Peter called back.

As she rushed off, he surveyed the wreckage around him. His backpack lay among the debris, soaked and coated in some unidentified slime.

"Oh, great. Did he throw up on this thing, or did it come out the other end?" Peter grimaced as he pulled out his belongings. Fortunately, he'd made them waterproof.

He glanced over the vials and bottles on the makeshift workbench, then at the rubbish scattered across the floor.

"Hmm. It looks like he was planning to distribute this stuff..."

He recognized the serum. It was the same substance he'd worked with in his earlier experiments.

"So Connors must have gone back and attacked Oscorp Tower again."

BANG! CLANG!

A tremendous metallic crash interrupted him as Connors came flying out of a passage, sent sprawling against the wall by a powerful kick.

This time, he was up against a fully fed, well-rested Super Gwen who'd even received a nice round of praise from Peter!

Connors had effectively traded his muscles for brains, while Gwen had plenty of both. He couldn't stand up to her. He also lacked real fighting experience, which made this encounter even easier for Gwen than their battle earlier that day.

At least now he had enough sense not to charge blindly into everything, and he could feel fear when something hurt.

"One thing you should know, Spider-Woman," Peter said while examining the inhibitor. "Only half a syringe went in last time, if I remember right. The effects might wear off sooner."

"Huh?" Gwen paused in the middle of pinning the Lizard down and pounding him in the face. Beneath her, the creature's body began swelling again.

"ROAAAR!"

Sharp spines sprouted rapidly from Connors's back, and his head grew pointed again. He began rampaging through the tunnel with Gwen still riding him. She felt as though she were trying to break in a dinosaur.

Well, dinosaurs were the ancestors of lizards, after all.

The Lizard thrashed desperately to throw her off. Gwen hung on to reins she'd made from webbing and tried to haul him under control.

"Peter! Are you done yet?!"

"Almost, Spider-Woman! You wouldn't want to inject him with something that doesn't work, would you?"

Once Peter confirmed the inhibitor was still viable, he tossed her the syringe. Gwen caught it with a strand of webbing and plunged the needle into Connors's back.

The creature bellowed. Already exhausted from Gwen's relentless handling, the Lizard gradually lost his strength and began shrinking.

Before long, Curt Connors was human again. Unfortunately, his clothes had been torn apart long ago.

Peter draped a white sheet over him.

"Peter? How's Curt?" Martha emerged from hiding when the noise finally stopped.

She'd been on the verge of breaking down all night. At the sight of her husband lying beneath a white sheet, she burst into tears.

"Waaah! Curt! How am I supposed to go on without you?!"

She threw herself over him, sobbing so hard that she woke him up. Connors sat bolt upright, and Martha recoiled in fright.

"Eeeek!"

Then she fainted.

"Martha? MARTHA!" Now it was Connors's turn to panic. He clutched his unconscious wife and began wailing. "How am I supposed to live without you?!"

Peter and Gwen stared at them, utterly speechless.

"Dr. Connors, you're both alive," Peter pointed out. "Please calm down."

"Waaah..."

"Corporal Connors!" Peter barked.

"SIR, YES, SIR!" Connors responded on instinct.

"Good. Now gather your things. We're leaving." Peter shook his head. "Your house got blown up, so you can stay at my place for the time being."

Harley's apartment building had plenty of vacant rooms.

Spider-Woman helped transport the couple back to the building before taking her leave. Peter used his keys to open a room with basic furnishings, then brought them some bedding.

"I'll go upstairs and get you something to eat. Try to rest. We can deal with everything else tomorrow." He turned to Connors. "And set an alarm, Doctor. We've got two doses of the inhibitor left, which should get you through tomorrow. You'll probably need another injection every six hours or so."

Connors nodded, still stunned by everything that had happened. He covered his face as waves of anguish washed over him.

Neon light streamed through the window of the otherwise empty room. It stretched the shadow of the man sitting on the bed far across the wall, where it looked disturbingly like a giant lizard.

He'd destroyed everything. His life, his future, his home.

All of it, because of one terrible decision.

Martha gradually regained consciousness. When she saw Connors sitting beside her, she flung her arms around his neck and choked out, "Oh, thank goodness... Curt... You're all right. That's all that matters..."

"I'm sorry, Martha..." He held her tightly.

"It's okay, Curt..."