5 Lizard/Lab Lady

San Fransokyo was in a current state of repair. Just recently it had been attacked by a swarm of mutated monsters that seemingly appeared from nowhere. The attack was stopped, thankfully, but the city was still in the process of recovering from the damage. While the city was once again grateful to Big Hero 6 for saving them, there was another involved who they were still trying to figure out. Unknown to them, this very person was at SFIT right now, watching the news from his private lab. He was a young man, about 17 years old, with short, brown hair and wore a grey t-shirt and black pants under a white lab coat.

His name was Jake Connors. As the son of the renowned scientist, Curt Connors, he had been given a scholarship opportunity to study at SFIT. There he proved himself well, becoming one of the top ranking students in biotech and other biological sciences. However, he had also been working on a separate, private project that he perfected and finally was able to test when Di's mutant monsters invaded the city; a project that proved to be a complete success. As he watched the news in his lab, he saw footage of the monsters' attack with Big Hero 6 fighting them off as a reporter's voice spoke over the video:

"…Big Hero 6 once again protected our city and its citizens from the monstrous threat, now revealed to be orchestrated by Di Amara of Sycorax, leaving us with yet a greater debt to these heroes. However, this time they were not the only heroes involved. While we are not sure of where it came from, some of the mutant monsters were seen being attacked by this."

Here the scene shows some of the mutants being attacked and thrown around by a large, humanoid, lizard creature wearing a tattered lab coat and torn black pants. As the footage continued, the lizard was running through the streets toward Sycorax, swatting aside any monster dumb enough to challenge him like they were mere insects (some of them actually did look like insects).

The reporter continued: "Later eyewitness accounts say that this new lizard creature, which calls itself The New Lizard, went directly into the Sycorax building itself and supposedly helped put an end to the mutant invasion. Though future reports may follow, we are not sure where this Lizard's whereabouts are right now or if we will ever see him again."

Jake chuckled to himself; the news could be so amusing sometimes. Just then, his phone began to ring. Turning off the tv screen, he picked up his phone and answered it.

"Hello?" he said.

"Jake," came a girl's voice from the other end, "It's good to hear you again. Especially after the things I've been through."

The voice belonged to one of Jake's only friends from SFIT, Karmi. The two had met after sharing the same biotech class and became a powerhouse team in their field ever since, even becoming close friends. Jake knew what Karmi meant by what she had been through as he had seen her become one of Di's mutations, and he ended up fighting her under the Sycorax building, as the Lizard.

"Karmi!" Jake replied, "It's good to hear from you too. How are things going on your end?"

"Not too bad. My parents decided to move out of the city, so naturally I have to go with them."

Jake's spirits deflated: "Aw, man. That sucks. When do you guys leave?"

"In a week and a half. I'll be stopping by your lab to talk more about it, plus some other things."

"Sounds good. When will you be here?"

"I should be there in the next few minutes. I gotta see Hiro first, then I'll come see you. That okay?"

"Sounds like a plan. He was actually asking about you earlier so I'm sure he'll be happy to see you. Catch ya later!" Hanging up the phone, Jake ran around, cleaning up his lab to the best of his abilities. He knew Karmi had seen a messy lab before, but Jake wanted to make a good final impression. A few minutes later, a knock was heard at the door.

"Come in." Jake said. Then the door opened, and Karmi walked in. She was wearing her usual yellow shirt and red skirt, which was surprising to Jake considering she was wearing something similar when she was mutated into a creature a few days ago.

"It's really good to see you again before you leave, Karmi," Jake said, "How ya' feeling?"

"A little sore, but otherwise, I'm fine." Karmi replied, "Is it okay if I ask you something personally?"

Jake looked around; he was beginning to get nervous: "Uhhh, sure?"

Karmi closed the door behind her, then she turned to face Jake: "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"The Lizard."

Jake's heart froze: "How did you…?"

"It wasn't that hard to figure out. As I watched the news, I recognized the SFIT symbol on your lab coat almost immediately, then remembered you having those…," here she points to a small cluster of terrariums with lizards inside, "…in your lab so I decided that you were somehow involved."

Jake sighed; there was no way he was getting out of this one: "Ok, I admit it; I am the Lizard."

Karmi's eyes narrowed: "How did you do it?" she asked.

"You remember how my father is Curt Connors?"

"Yeah."

"Well, a long time ago, he created a serum he thought would regrow his arm using lizard DNA. It worked, but it turned him into a mindless reptilian beast intent on destroying everything. Thankfully, he was stopped by a hero called Spider-Man and was transformed back into his normal self."

Karmi's eyes then widened: "You were recreating that serum?!"

"Sort of," Jake continued, "I saw potential in the Lizard. I thought he could be used for good; the problem is that I had to figure out how to stay in control of myself when the transformation happened. It took me months of research and experimenting, until I finally found what I believed to be the solution. If you have more human DNA in the right parts of the strands of the serum, it will preserve certain parts of the original human anatomy…"

"Like the mind?" Karmi asked.

"Exactly!" Jake said, glad she was catching on, "Once I figured that out, I was able to synthesize the new serum, in my free time that is; I obviously still kept up with my homework."

"Did you ever test it?" Karmi asked.

"Once," Jake answered, "It was a few days ago, when the monsters began to attack that I was finally able to truly test the serum out. The transformation was rather painful, but after it was finished, I realized I still had control of my mind; the serum had worked. Once I realized that, I used the power of the Lizard the way I always thought it could be used: by protecting others as a hero."

Karmi marveled at Jake's story: "That's pretty incredible."

"Yes, yes, it is. I never wanted to tell you before because I was scared of how you would react."

"Honestly, after what happened a few days ago, I'm just glad you were there and with the power to help stop it. But can I ask you something else."

"What?"

"Can you teach me?"

This caught Jake off guard: "To do what exactly?"

"To be a hero. You obviously were able to pull it off, and I don't leave for a week and a half. You can help me become my own hero."

Jake though for a moment, then said: "I don't know much, but I can teach you what I know."

Karmi lit up like Christmas: "You will?!"

"I'll do my best."

Karmi ran up and hugged Jake so tightly she almost squeezed the air right out of him.

"Karmi…" Jake choked out, "Choking! Not Breathing!"

"Oh, sorry," Karmi said, letting Jake go. After regaining his breath, Jake asked: "Before I teach you anything, we gotta figure out what kind of hero exactly you want to be. Did you have any ideas?"

"I actually did," Karmi replied, "You read my fanfiction by any chance?"

"When I get the opportunity, and only because Fred, one of Hiro's friends, showed me."

Karmi pulled up a picture from her fanfic on her phone, "Well, I recently made myself into a hero on that fanfic and would like to try making it reality."

Jake studied the picture. The outfit was certainly impressive, for sure. He also noticed a name under the picture.

"Lab Lady?" he asked.

"Uh huh," Karmi replied, "As that hero, I can fight with all kinds of biotech weaponry and gadgets. One that I make myself, of course."

"A tech hero?" Jake said, "Ok, we can work with that. But let me warn you; if we do this, and you end up becoming like this hero, everything in your life is going to change, for better or for worse. Once you step into hero life, there is no going back. You are absolutely sure that you want to do this?"

Karmi looked Jake dead in the eyes and nodded her head: "Absolutely." She said.

Jake then smiled and then held out his hand, which Karmi then promptly shook.

"Well, then, Lab Lady," Jake said, "Let's get started. We've got a lot of work ahead of us."