Chapter 13: Round Two

I smirked and leaped forward as the Lizard did the same, its large claws outstretched to tear me apart, too bad I didn't give him the chance as I fired a web at the ground pulling myself down as he soared through the air, completely missing me, before crashing down. I idly notice that my web seems to have dissolved faster than usual. Must be the rain.

My spider-sense buzzes and I leap into the air as the Lizard throws a football goalpost where I was just standing. I grin again and call out, "You might want to get your eyesight checked buddy! I know a great eye doctor!" I then immediately leap at him firing a web at his eyes before latching onto the side of his face and slashing at his eyes without care.

One of his hands grabbed me before I could do any further damage and threw me. Right into the bleachers. I winced and groaned as I got back up and stretched, "That the best you got?!" I snarl as I inspect my costume for any damage. It had been taking a hell of a beating but there were definitely rips and tears. I had to be careful, even if it seemed to be holding up.

I watched as the Lizard ignored me and instead chose to stomp back towards the auditorium, did it have some specific target that it was aiming to attack? That was worrying, if this was Dr. Connors then with his mind of genetics it wouldn't be hard for him to turn everyone into lizard freaks. And if it's not him, it might be trying to kill one of the students or faculty members.

I fired a web at its back to draw its attention towards me but the pouring rain dissolved it after it held for a bit. Fuck, my webs weren't gonna work for long and while this new suit was amazing for the low-level thugs I normally fought, it wasn't built to go blow to blow with a mutated lizard-human hybrid. Assuming it wasn't some crazy scientists escaped pet lizard.

I leaped back onto the field and looked around before spotting the goalpost the Lizard threw at me earlier, I quickly lifted it and set my eyes on the Lizard. I flung it with as much force as I could muster, sending it flying into the air before it crashed down a few dozen feet away from the Lizard. Fuck, I knew I should have joined the baseball team!

Thankfully, It does do the task of gaining its attention and as the rain droplets cover its scaled form, it looks back over to me with cold calculating eyes before looking back at the auditorium and taking a deep sniff. It doesn't look like it, it likes what it smells by my guess because it immediately launches itself back into the auditorium.

I follow behind, leaping like a giant human frog instead of bothering to waste my webs. I grab onto the wall and crawl in through one of the broken windows as I see the emptied auditorium. Thank god people were smart enough to get away from the giant fucking murder lizard. I watched with a small amount of glee as the Lizard let loose another roar before attacking the decorations.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that whoever he was after got away and he can't track them down now. Probably because his senses weren't as fully developed to allow him to track down prey over long distances, or individual ones. Either that or the rain masked their smell.

I decided to make my entry then, launching myself off the wall and onto its back, "Hey there cowboy! This town ain't big enough for the both of us." I quote in a midwestern drawl before the Lizard's tail knocks me off and he screeches again. "Jeez, you scream more than my mom does." 

It gazes at me with those same dead eyes while my spider-sense begins tingling rapidly. Then it leaps at me and its razor-sharp claws are mere inches away from my soft squishy body, before every muscle I have reacts, pushing me away from it and causing me to leap off the ground back to the wall again. 

This time though, it isn't content to ignore me and instead flings itself into the air, grabbing me with a hand and smashing the both of us through the wall out into the parking lot. I notice that the damage I did to his eye earlier has already healed, with the eyeball looking as good as new. I see some shriveled-up skin still attached to his eye area, similar to how a snake's shed coat looks.

My senses reacts again and I dodge out of the way of a flying car before a second one smacks me in the face sending me to the floor. The Lizard is immediately upon me, pummeling me further into the floor as I try my best to block as many of his attacks as I can. Some of them started causing minor cuts where my suit had been ripped earlier and the force of its attacks caused a crater to start forming in the concrete. 

I was getting tired of being smacked around by this point so I grabbed one of its hands when it went from a slash and used all my strength to throw it as far as I could. I got lucky because it was surprised and didn't immediately attack me when I grabbed its hand, just throwing it was a hard enough effort. I wince as I rub my ribs, I needed to go visit Hanz after this fight. He had a Medical License, right?

I leap over to the street I threw the Lizard into and see some crumpled cars but no Lizard while my spider-sense begins buzzing. I look around feeling confused about where it went to before it leaps out of an alleyway and tackles me into a television store sending me into a rack of flatscreens. I groan as it grabs me by the leg and pulls me out before launching me at a street light but I latch onto it and pull myself upright.

I wheeze for a second before calling out, "Hey, can we take a second? I feel like we're in completely different weight classes and I wanna talk to the refs about this unfair match-up." I only have a second to giggle at my joke before it grabs a car and throws it right at me. 

My spider-sense begins buzzing as I flip over the car and fire a bunch of webs at the Lizard before I flip behind it and grab it by the tail. I begin swinging it around before letting go sending it into the air again. "You can't beat me you oversized pet! I'm gonna turn you into lizard stew and then eat it!" I snarl.

The Lizard does not react well to my taunt as it leaps away, leaving me no choice but to go after it, leaping from rooftop to rooftop as I track its scaly back through the city. Then it dips down into the streets and I follow behind it dodging out of another surprise attack thanks to my spider-sense.

It snarls at me flashing its teeth aggressively before it grabs a car with 2 people inside and throws it at me. My spider-sense blares at me to dodge but I grab onto the car with a huff of effort due to the force behind it and set it down before the Lizard slams into me sending the car flying as we both crash into some sort of factory.

I cough for a bit and rub my back for a bit before getting back up, "You just gonna fight with dirty tricks or do you wanna actually fight properly. Oh who am I kidding, you're too much of a pussy to fight fair!" I taunt but the Lizard seems unaffected. It snarls and leaps up the building and I fire a web swinging up after it.

As I come to the rooftop I am grabbed mid-swing as the Lizard begins squeezing the life out of me, my every bone struggles to not break as I begin feeling my body push itself into overdrive. Every muscle is screaming in pain as I grab one of its fingers and pull it with such force that the finger breaks causing it to drop me in pain.

I fall to the ground and breathe for a second before my spider-sense buzzes and the Lizard jumps off the rooftop, its broken finger snapped back into place. I fire a web and pull myself away

as it slams into the ground causing dust to get kicked up. I hear the tell-tale signs of a police sirens in the distance before the Lizard screams at me and leaps away. I don't give it the chance to get the drop on me this time and am immediately after it inches away from its back before it turns around and grabs me before flinging me onto the street.

I spot a couple of SWAT cars before the Lizard drops down directly on top of one causing it to be crushed under it's size and killing anyone inside as blood drips out from it. I stare at the Lizard with confusion as my mind struggles to grasp that it had so callously murdered someone without a second thought.

Who knows how many people were in that car and it had just snuffed their lives in a second. Who knows how many families had lost parents because this animal had decided that it wanted to rampage. I force myself back to my feet even as my body screams at me. I look around at the other SWAT cars and leap at the Lizard to distract it.

It attempts to slash at me but I grab onto its hand and snap one of its fingers again before raining a barrage of blows onto its chest before kicking it in the lower jaw sending it back a few feet. I grab a nearby sign and tear it from the concrete before leaping into the air and bringing it down on its chest piercing through the tough hide.

The Lizard screams in pain before its tail knocks me into one of the downed SWAT cars and tears out the sign. "How's it feel to get a taste of your own medicine you fucking animal!?" I snarl, as some officers get out of the vehicles and point their guns at the Lizard and open fire. The bullets barely penetrate but the constant barrage means it's being hurt faster than it can heal.

It roars again and grabs one of the downed SWAT cars and throws it at them before I fire a bunch of extra thick webs to hold it in place and then grab it and set it down gently as the Lizard leaps away the rain providing an inky blackness to it's green coat.

I turn to the officers and just give them a thumbs up before leaping after the Lizard. I spot the Hudson River nearby before the Lizard slams down into the park area nearby. It stands there menacingly as rain drips from its already healing wounds that are pushing the bullets out of its hide.

I glare at it as it rasps out, "Gweeeeennnn... Mine… Killl…. Osborn…." I stare at it for a second in surprise before it charges forward and slams into me sending me flying into the safety rail and tearing it off from the force as I plummet into the Hudson River. I struggle in its grip as my body struggles to get the oxygen it so desperately needs.

My mask isn't letting any water in so I can breathe for a bit but it's not enough. I'm sinking with the Lizard and there's no way out for me. I'm gonna die here. I'm gonna die drowning to death… Am I? Will I be sent back to my old world if I die? Or will I be sent to another world? Or even worse will I be sent to Hell? Well fuck that. I don't care whether the story wants me to die here!

I make my own rules!

My body begins struggling even harder as I slash at the Lizard's underbelly with my claws, drawing deep wounds before I grab one of his fingers and break it. Then I break another for good measure and kick it in its stomach as it lets go at last. I quickly swim up to the surface and break through taking in deep breaths of air.

I look at my web-shooters and notice I'm nearly out of webs in both. I'm down to 4 webs in my right webshooter and 3 in my left. I've got my organic ones too but I'm not sure if I want to use those up. If I use too many I could get knocked out and then I'm out of ways to deal with the Lizard.

I feel my spider-sense buzz and fire a web from my right at the railing to pull myself away as the Lizard leaps out of the water like some reptilian parody of Jaws. I fire another web from my left to pull myself back to shore but the Lizard slashes it apart before it can connect.

I paddle closer to shore before my spider-sense buzzes again and this time I fire from my right to pull myself ashore before the Lizard grabs me out of the air allowing me to point both my webshooters at his nostrils and use up my remaining 2 shots to fill them. I then punch him in the stomach as hard as I can before I fire a web using my organic webs and pull myself to shore. 

I land on the grassy floor and take a few deep breaths before pushing myself up using a tree, every bit of my body hurts and every breath I take feels like I'm running the risk of collapsing. I wait for the Lizard to resurface and attack me but he doesn't show up. Eventually, the seconds turn to minutes and I'm forced to conclude he swam away.

While something his size wouldn't be hard to track across the lake it would be harder if he got into the sewers. Which he has likely done now that he got into the Hudson River. He'd go through the sewer disposal thingies and force himself through if he couldn't and then… he'd be able to go anywhere in New York with me none the wiser.

This Lizard couldn't be anything but a human. It was just too intelligent. Too cunning.. It had lured me to the river to remove any advantages my webs could have given me and to make it harder for me to dodge. Moreover, with the weather my webs fell apart like paper mache making their strengths harder to use, I'd have to get Hanz working on some upgrades. It had attacked civilians to distract me and killed with ruthless efficiency. That made me wonder how much human was left and how much was the Lizard itself. 

I winced as I gingerly touched one of my ribs before firing a web. I was going to need a lot of Tylenol… And chocolate. A lot of chocolate. I wonder if Hanz will fix my suit for me? I needed to gear up though, this Lizard was way more threatening than any version I'd ever seen or read about.