With great power, comes great responsibility.

Those are the words that my Uncle Ben told me and what I’ve lived by ever since. It’s just too bad he also didn’t tell that with great power comes great bruising, which is what I’m learning by fighting the Lizard, Mysterio and a robotic Venom…at the same time!

How did I end up fighting three of my worst enemies at once? Well, that’s a long story. But luckily, my old– can I call her a friend? Well, my acquaintance, the Black Cat has just appeared, although I’m not sure if that’s going to be bad luck for them, or for me…

LIZARDS & VENOM

Part IV

By Tobias Christopher

The Lizard’s hands came smashing down toward the Black Cat, who jumped up, landing on the creature’s head momentarily before jumping behind him. By the time he turned around, he felt a harsh kick from her boot against his tough skin, which only seemed to make him angrier.

What is it about this town that keeps attracting me back to it? Was it the fact that there was always a certain amount of danger lurking in the night? Or maybe it was the fact that there was always something valuable available to steal? Or maybe it had to do with a certain spider-themed hero who always manages to catch my attention.

In this particular case, it has do with the former two, and certainly not the latter. Two weeks ago, I stumbled upon one of my father’s caches of stolen treasures and learned a few startling secrets about him, most of which angered me to no end but, after I had time to think, I decided to track down one particular item my father left behind. The trail brought me back to New York.

I don’t know whether it was pride or just wanting to do this on my own, but I didn’t involve the Spider. This was strictly a family matter, but over the years he’s become the closest thing I have to family that I can count on, which is how I got sidetracked in my mission when I saw he was in trouble. He’d better appreciate this…

Spider-Man shot a stream of webbing at both Mysterio and Venom, pulling them toward each other, jumping out of the way as the two collided. He landed, just in time for the Lizard to rush toward the hero. He ducked backward, shot two more strands of webbing at the Lizard, pulled himself up and did a flip kick to the creature’s jaw.

“I take it you’re not back for a courtesy call,” said Spider-Man as he ended up back to back with the Black Cat as Venom and Mysterio came toward her. “What are you here to steal this time?”

“That hurts,” replied Black Cat as she punched at Venom, while Spider-Man tried to attack Mysterio. “Maybe I’m in town to do a good deed.”

“And this good deed would be worth how much?” asked Spider-Man as the two turned to face each other.

“Hey, show some appreciation. I just saved your life,” said Black Cat as she looked at the masked man.

“You didn’t save my life, I could have easily gotten out of this alone,” retorted Spider-Man.

“Sure,” replied Black Cat as she laughed. “You were getting your ass handed to you when I arrived.”

“It was all part of my strategy,” claimed Spider-Man confidently.

As the two argued, Mysterio just stood there, watching things unfold. No one had realized yet the Lizard was no longer around, as his nose had picked up the scent of his prey.

A.J. and Billy weren’t far away from the fight. The heroes and villains were blocking the only exit out of the construction site that didn’t involve huge ditches or climbing over fences with barbed wiring designed to keep intruders out.

“I think we can make a run for it, they all seem distracted,” said A.J. as he looked over at Billy. “Are you alright?”

“No,” replied Billy as he waited for the right moment for them to run. “If we don’t make it—”

“Shut up,” said A.J. firmly. “Stop talking like that, we’re getting out of this. No one’s killing either of us tonight. Come on, let’s make a run for it.”

The two teens started running, but as they got closer to the exit, the Lizard’s tail came from out of nowhere, tripping them both, causing both boys to fall forward to the ground. Billy rolled over onto his back and saw the Lizard standing over them.

“Get away from us!” shouted A.J. as he threw himself between the Lizard and Billy. “You big scaly son of a bitch, go pick on someone your own size!”

The Lizard’s massive claw swiped at him, but Billy knocked him out of the way, taking the force of the Lizard’s claw himself as it brutally scraped across his face. Billy screamed in pain as his hands instantly covered his face, blood seeping through his fingers soon after. As Billy fell to his knees in pain, the Lizard stood over him. Deep down, he realized he’d just hurt the one person in the world he never wanted to harm.

A.J. stood up and saw Billy was hurt. He picked up a lead pipe and struck the Lizard in the back. While A.J. was strong for someone his size, it still wasn’t enough to physically harm the creature that was more than twice his size.

“You bastard!” shouted A.J. as he struck again. The Lizard growled angrily and backhanded A.J. into the ditch behind him, the pipe falling to the ground as the young man flew backward. Even though Billy’s eyes were blurred from the blood from his injury, he could make out a vision of the Lizard striking his friend. In a panic, Billy rushed to the ditch, and looked down. It was dark and the blood in his eyes wasn’t helping, but he could make out a twelve foot hole with exposed pipes, one of which was protruding through A.J.’s left side as he lay there, unmoving.

Was he–

He had to be–

No one could survive a fall like that, especially after being impaled. His best friend, the only person in the world who cared about him despite what demons he carried, was lying dead in a ditch. And it was all because of his father, who had promised that everything would be okay.

Billy let out a low growl as his mind went to the worst possible place, as his eyes started to turn yellow…

As Spider-Man and Black Cat were bantering back and forth, Venom knocked them both out of the way, laughing as he did.

“All right, let’s take care of these guys first, then we can argue,” replied Spidey. “Use your bad luck mojo on him, he’s just a robot.”

“You could at least say please,” she said.

“… Please,” replied Spidey.

Black Cat focused her energy on Venom as he stomped toward them. In a nearby crane, the release lever for a wrecking ball high above them accidentally lowered, causing the wrecking ball to release. It landed on the Venom robot, crushing it underneath.

“Not bad,” replied Spider-Man as he looked around. “Where’s Mysterio and Lizard?”

Mysterio had found the symbiote, which had rolled away toward the river’s edge. He picked it up, laughing at his conquest. It was then that a whip wrapped around his arm as a strand of webbing latched onto the container, yanking it away.

“What is it going to take to get rid of you two?” asked Mysterio as he prepared to toss another smoke grenade, but bad luck managed to cause it to explode in his hand before he could toss it at them.

Spider-Man then tackled him and, as he lay on the villain, punched the dome helmet, shattering it, destroying any last tricks Mysterio may have had to escape.

“Two down, one to go,” said Spider-Man the two heroes wasted no time disarming the villain before tying Mysterio up. “Now for the Lizard.”

“I think you mean Lizards, plural,” replied Black Cat as they saw Billy Connors start to change colors, his skin going from pale white to green, his pitch black hair disappearing under the scaly green skin that was emerging. His body was starting to enlarge, causing the clothes on his body to start to tear from his growing form. His sneakers started to rip as scaly talons tore through. A scaly tale broke through the back of his pants, completing the transformation. The young Lizard roared with rage as he re-entered the world.

“… Crap,” said Spider-Man in a calm voice.

“Do you want the ugly one, or the even uglier one?’ asked Black Cat as the two Lizards circled each other, not even acknowledging Spider-Man or Black Cat were in the vicinity.

The young Lizard rushed forward toward his father, intent on finishing him. Even though his mind had reverted to a primitive state, he knew he was avenging the person who’d sacrificed himself to help someone he loved.

The Lizard grabbed his son by the arms, equally enraged as the two started to fight. Meanwhile, Spider-Man was gathering up some chains he’d found by the construction equipment.

“We have to restrain them,” said Spider-Man as he looked at Black Cat. “If we can get them back to ESU, we can hold them until another cure is found.”

“Is it that easy?” asked Black Cat as she grabbed some chains.

“Is it ever?” replied Spider-Man. “We just have to get them back without-”

Spider-Man then glanced down into the ditch and saw A.J. laying there. “No!”

Tossing the chains to the ground, he dove into the ditch. Black Cat saw the young man impaled on the pipe and immediately felt bad for the kid. But there was a job that still needed to be done. She grabbed the chain and twirled it. It was time to go to work and show them what the Black Cat could really do.

Spider-Man put two fingers on A.J.’s pulse, which was barely there. The boy had landed right on top of the protruding water pipe in the ground. Spider-Man couldn’t risk moving him without injuring the young man further, as he looked as if was near death as it was. He grabbed his cell phone off of his belt and dialed 911. Luckily Peter had been smart enough to upgrade the tech on his phone to make it completely untraceable. Hopefully the Lizards would be contained by the time the rescue workers got there.

“Hang in there,” said Spider-Man softly, trying not to get too emotional. Just this morning A.J. had helped him when he needed it, and now here he was, near death. Spider-Man stood up and got ready to return to the fight when A.J. grabbed his leg. Spider-Man immediately went back to his side, removing his mask so A.J. could see his face.

“Tell Billy something for me,” said A.J. in a low whisper.

Black Cat whipped the chain around, striking the Lizard. She spun and swung the chain again to keep the younger Lizard at bay before he could strike. Where the hell was the Spider? She couldn’t keep this up forever. The Lizard grabbed the chain and pulled the Black Cat toward him, ready to feast, not realizing this was part of her plan.

He opened his jaws, not feeling the small device in her palm as she slammed it against his neck, sending enough electricity through his body to knock out an elephant. The Lizard screamed in pain as his smoking body fell to the ground, unconscious to the world. Another device she’d gotten from the Tinkerer that she didn’t get to use nearly often enough.

“One down,” said Black Cat as the younger Lizard’s tail knocked her to the ground while she was distracted. He then picked up a large metal pipe, the same one A.J. had used earlier, and walked toward his father. With his strength, he could deliver the lethal blow that his friend couldn’t. Right through the heart should do it, the creature thought.

“Billy, don’t!” shouted Spider-Man as he emerged from the ditch. “A.J.’s alive!”

The younger Lizard stopped as soon as he heard A.J.’s name. He growled softly as he turned to face Spider-Man. He felt like something was fighting with him internally to at least listen.

“A.J. told me everything,” said Spider-Man as he slowly approached the younger Lizard. “He’s fighting to stay alive, Billy, and he needs you to do it. He loves you, Billy. He wants you to fight this.”

Black Cat stood up, getting the chain ready even as Spider-Man held up a hand to stop her.

“Fight it, Billy,” said Spider-Man in a calm voice. “You’ve been fighting it for a long time. Don’t let it control you, now. Fight it for A.J. Give him a reason to fight to stay alive.”

The younger Lizard felt a pain in his stomach. He could feel Billy’s mind subconsciously fighting for control. He now had a reason to fight back again. A.J. was fighting for him and that was enough to push Billy to fight back for A.J. The younger Lizard’s mind started wrestling with Billy’s for control as he put his clawed hands on his head, struggling to stay standing. The younger Lizard fell to his knees as his form started shrinking. The tail seemed to retract, and the claws and talons appeared to be reverting back to fingers and toes.

“Spider, what the hell’s going on?” asked Black Cat.

“Young love,” replied Spider-Man as the sound of an ambulance was heard in the distance. Hopefully the police would be right behind to pick up Mysterio and escort the Lizard and his son to ESU. Spider-Man went to grab the container with the symbiote, which was empty. He saw a crack in the bottom, barely big enough for a fly to escape through. “Oh boy…”

The police arrived moments later, finding Mysterio tied up, the Lizard unconscious, A.J. laying impaled in the ditch… and an unconscious, and very human, Billy Connors, still with the facial injury the Lizard had given him. Spider-Man and Black Cat were watching from the distance, hoping to find the symbiote before it was too late.

“Where is he?” asked Drew an hour later as he rushed into the hospital. He’d just gotten home when he got the call telling him A.J. was in critical condition. He looked at the woman behind the desk with panic visible in his face. “Where’s my brother?”

Several hours later, A.J. was lying in a hospital bed, still clinging to life as Drew walked in and sat down next to the bed. Drew took his brother’s hand as he started crying. The pipe that had impaled A.J. luckily didn’t hit any vital organs. Outside of some major blood loss, A.J. had managed to beat the odds and survive yet again.

“You scared me, baby bro,” said Drew as he talked to his brother, unsure of whether or not he could hear. “Don’t you ever think about leaving me alone, do you hear?”

A.J. started to lightly squeeze his brother’s hand as he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry, Drew.”

“Don’t be sorry,” said Drew as he looked down at him. “Just focus on getting better.”

“Is Billy alright?” asked A.J., his eyes still remaining closed.

Drew sighed. Why of all things, did his name have to come up?

“I don’t know,” replied Drew. “What were you doing with him, anyway? If I’d known how dangerous he was—”

“I love him,” whispered A.J. before drifting off into unconsciousness as Drew’s face went pale again.

Billy was in a hospital bed across the hall. His face was covered in bandages and gauze, having just gotten out of surgery. The doctors had done all they could, but the facial tissue was far too damaged to repair. The Lizard’s claws had cut into the boy’s face very deeply, leaving three permanent scars across his face, from the left side of his forehead to his lower right cheek.

But no one knew the real extent of the damage caused to him. The battle between Billy’s mind and the Lizard’s mind became a battle that neither had won, leaving Billy’s mind a blank slate, resulting in him being comatose to the world. Time would tell whether or not Billy Connors would ever wake up from his current state.

As Billy lay in his bed, something started moving in the pile of torn clothing he’d arrived in, which was sitting in a plastic bag on the chair. A black oozing object crawled out of the bag and immediately sensed the boy in the bed. It was faint, but the symbiote could taste the rage, fear and sadness. It wanted more and it knew that this child could feed its hunger.

The ooze creeped along the floor and made its way toward the bed, crawling up until it arrived at Billy’s side. The symbiote attached itself to the bandages on Billy’s face, seeping through until the black of the symbiote was completely engulfed in the white substance. It had just found a new home…

Spider-Man was sitting on top of the Empire State Building as Black Cat sat perched next to him.

“We searched everywhere and not a sign of the symbiote,” said Spider-Man as he looked down into the city. “And now that kid’s fighting for his life.”

“You know those kids personally, don’t you?” asked Black Cat.

“Peter Parker knows those kids,” replied Spider-Man as he looked over at her. “The part of me that you don’t care to know, remember?”

“I never said that,” said Black Cat. “I just find this side of you so much more… interesting.”

“So, what are you back in town for?” asked Spider-Man, changing the subject. “You heard I was single and wanted another shot, is that it?”

“Oh, get over yourself,” said Black Cat with a laugh as she punched his shoulder playfully. “I’m actually here for something else. Besides, when has you being in a relationship ever stopped me from trying?”

“How much is it worth?” asked Spider-Man with a raised eyebrow under his mask. “And more to the point: what’s it going to take to keep you from stealing it?”

“You might say that it’s priceless,” replied Black Cat, “and nothing you can do will stop me from getting to it.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Spider-Man as he looked at her. “Remember when I made a promise that I wouldn’t let you—”

“I found out I might have a brother,” replied Black Cat as she looked at him. “And I think he might be in New York.”

“A brother?” asked Spider-Man. “You mean your father—”

“I don’t know, but that’s what I’m going to find out,” replied Black Cat.

Having the Spider along with me on this might not be so bad. He’ll help me find this guy and then, through him, I’ll get what I really came back to this town to claim. I could care less about some bastard offspring my father might have spawned, but whoever and where ever this guy is, he’s keeping me from something far more valuable…