Splash!
Peter crashed hard into the reeking runoff below.
The transformed Dr. Connors—now a towering lizard-beast—drove him down like a runaway truck. The filthy water surged around them, the stench instantly seeping into Peter's mask, nearly forcing its way into his mouth.
He tried wrenching free of Connors' grip, but to his shock, the reptilian monster's strength was overwhelming.
Connors really was monstrously powerful after mutating into the Lizard. And Peter—only recently awakened as Spider-Man—hadn't yet reached the peak of his abilities. In a raw contest of strength, he was losing.
They tumbled through the current, swept who-knew-where.
The Lizard squeezed his wrists as casually as an adult crushing a child's. He wanted to tear Peter's limbs clean off.
But at the same time, Connors realized something: this tight-suit freak's bones and tendons weren't normal. They were far tougher—like reinforced steel.
Another superhuman?
Connors' eyes narrowed.
It wasn't their first encounter, though they hadn't clashed head-on last time.
Now, submerged in sewage, Peter's lungs burned. He knew he had seconds—maybe less.
He braced his feet, kicked hard, and blasted the Lizard off his chest. Then he twisted around and bolted with the current like a panicked fish.
He had come here as the hunter—but somehow ended up as the hunted.
The Lizard shook off the impact and chased again immediately. His broad palms churned water even without webbed fingers, and his powerful tail whipped behind him like a spinning propeller, generating brutal thrust.
Everything about his mutated body made him faster—far faster—than Peter underwater.
He was less lizard and more crocodile now.
More like a torpedo.
He plowed straight through pipes and wire mesh that blocked his path, shredding obstacles in seconds. His claws sliced through metal like blades carving warm butter.
Peter twisted and contorted, dodging with impossible reflexes. Guided by his spider-sense, he bent and spun like an Olympic gymnast, avoiding slashes by hairsbreadths.
But even a thousand perfect dodges meant nothing if he slipped once.
Fortunately, he did have one advantage:
His agility made the cramped sewer his ally—not all tunnels were wide enough for the Lizard's hulking mass.
"If I'd known the Lizard was this tough, I'd have swapped shifts with Ben," Peter muttered through his exhaustion.
He didn't mean it—he'd never dump danger on Ben—but honestly, if Ben heard that thought, he'd probably volunteer to trade places.
Meanwhile, at the Oscorp Tower—
Ben held a vial of antidote tightly as he watched his surroundings warily.
A circle of mutated lizard-creatures had surrounded him.
He didn't use the antidote on them. Not because it was reserved for Dr. Connors, but because these creatures had all been transformed by Dr. Dong Wu's mutation device. The antidote likely wouldn't work on them at all.
"The watch's cooldown isn't over yet… I just need to stall."
Ben glanced at the device flashing red on his wrist and his stomach sank. He looked toward Dr. Dong Wu—but the man had already vanished into the shadows.
Suddenly—
His spider-sense shrieked like a downpour!
All the lizard creatures went berserk at once, lunging like a black tide.
Ben flicked the vial across the floor, sending it rolling safely out of harm's way. Both hands gripped a corner of the lab table and he swung it like a giant flyswatter.
BOOM!
The sweeping blow smashed every creature in its arc. Their screams echoed through the lab.
The table disintegrated in his grip.
Ben scanned the monsters. They had inherited the Lizard's insane regenerative ability—every wound he'd inflicted closed in mere heartbeats.
No hesitation—Ben dashed out of the lab.
A second later, the creatures stormed after him.
The narrow doorway couldn't fit them all, but that hardly mattered. Their steel-hard bodies tore straight through the wall. Concrete chunks blasted across the hall like artillery fire.
Then came the stampede.
"Next time I'm definitely bringing my web-shooters!"
Ben wasn't foolish enough to take the stairs. He bent his knees and launched upward, leaping over ten meters to plant himself against the central atrium wall.
He expected that to shake them off.
He was wrong.
They didn't have Peter's bio-electric sticking power, but their claws could hook straight into the wall. They scrambled upward like Lickers from a horror game, fast and relentless.
"I need to lure them to the rooftop."
Ben glanced down.
If he wanted to escape, he could lose them easily. But he couldn't let these creatures spill out of Oscorp. If even one escaped into the city—
In the sewers, among rats and reptiles, they'd vanish.
And worse, another Web outbreak might occur.
He spun, kicked a lizard-creature off the wall. Another lunged from his blind spot. Ben ducked under its swipe and grabbed its tail—
And unleashed several tons of force.
"Lizard Meteor Hammer!"
He swung it overhead, the air whooshing with every rotation.
Several lizard-creatures charging forward were flattened instantly.
The makeshift weapon wouldn't last. The creature twisted, preparing to sever its own tail to escape. Ben hurled it before it could.
"Lizard Chariot!"
The airborne monster crashed into a cluster of its allies like a bowling ball hitting pins.
"Strike!"
But his triumph lasted only a heartbeat.
A surge of danger slammed into him like a lightning bolt.
Whoosh!
A sharp whistle tore the air.
Ben rolled aside just in time.
He turned—and a massive shadow loomed over him.
A giant spider—far larger than him, nearly the height of an entire floor—clung to the wall. Its body was armored like a living fortress, its eight legs stabbing into concrete like steel spears.
Ben retreated instinctively.
"Did Dr. Dong Wu hit the spiders in Oscorp with the mutation ray too?"
He didn't have time to ponder.
The colossal spider lunged like an armored tank. Behind Ben, the corridor teemed with lizard-creatures—no escape.
The spider's mandibles slammed down like guillotine blades, ready to cut him clean in half—
CRACK!
A sharp metallic clang rang out.
The mandibles trembled violently—unable to pierce.
In the spider's faceted eyes, Ben's reflection had changed.
No longer human.
A towering warrior stood there—crystalline, gleaming, forged of faceted diamond.
—The Diamond War God.
Ben flexed both arms—and snapped the spider's gigantic mandibles like brittle twigs.
"Sorry," he said dryly, "but I have no intention of becoming 2.5 Wus."
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