Mary Jane opened her mouth, struggling to explain herself.
"I'm looking for Ben and… Peter. We're… neighbors. If something happens to them, Uncle Ben and Aunt May will be devastated…"
Felicia, too anxious to notice that Mary Jane's tone sounded a little off, blurted out in a panic:
"I haven't seen him! He wasn't in class just now."
"We have to find him. If he doesn't know there's a monster in the school, he's in trouble."
Mary Jane nodded. This was no time to care about pride or embarrassment—Ben's safety mattered far more than her dignity.
Fortunately, even in the crowd, Ben spotted both of them.
Red hair on one side, platinum blonde on the other—Mary Jane and Felicia stood out sharply. And with his heightened hearing, he had caught every word they said.
Seeing the girls ready to push back through the evacuees to find him, Ben hurriedly pushed through the students and jogged toward them.
"Felicia. Mary Jane."
"Ben!"
Both girls let out breathless, relieved cries when they saw him. But Mary Jane also noticed someone missing, and immediately asked, "Ben, where's Peter? There's a terrifying monster in the school—we need to get out, fast."
"Go with the crowd. I'll find Peter."
Ben placed his hands firmly on their shoulders, guiding them toward the exit.
Most of the students had already fled.
Felicia grabbed his arm—a cold hand slick with fear-induced sweat—and stammered, "It's too dangerous."
"Peter's my cousin. I'm not leaving him behind," Ben said.
At that moment, a deafening crash erupted behind him—Connors tore through the hallway like a runaway freight train. His massive body barreled into Spider-Man, smashing through several walls before disappearing from sight.
Felicia nearly forgot how to breathe.
"Was that… Spider-Man?"
Ben nodded, then issued clear, decisive orders. "Spider-Man will hold the creature off. I'm going after Peter. You two need to get out. Mary Jane—take Felicia and go!"
"But—"
Felicia tried to protest, but Mary Jane grabbed her shoulder, giving her a firm look before turning to Ben. "Be careful!"
"I will."
Once the girls disappeared into the crowd, Ben looked back toward the direction Connors and Peter had vanished. They'd already shattered the first-floor ceiling and crashed into the second-floor hallway. Up there, Connors had Peter pinned—his gigantic hand wrapped around Peter's entire torso as he slammed him into the floor.
The difference in strength was staggering.
The original Lizard was already nearly on par with Spider-Man, even stronger than Peter in his current, not-yet-fully-grown state. But now? After absorbing the mutated dinosaur gene, Dr. Connors' physical power had skyrocketed yet again.
Ben even suspected Connors might now be on par with a baseline Hulk.
"This isn't someone Peter can handle alone."
Ben rushed into one of the classrooms and pulled out the serum injector. He glanced at his watch but didn't activate it. Instead, he dug into his backpack and pulled out a red spider-suit—
A high-grade, modified version.
The blue sections had been swapped out for black, and a massive white spider emblem sprawled across the chest like a skeletal mark.
After last night's ambush at Oscorp, he'd regretted not making a web-shooter earlier. So after returning from Kamar-Taj, he'd gone full speedster mode, crafting a proper suit overnight.
He'd almost burned out the family sewing machine in the process.
The web-shooter was still rough around the edges, but upgrades would have to wait.
He changed into the suit in a flash.
Ben vaulted through the window, flicked his wrist, and fired a web line—his body launching forward like a cannon shell.
This was his first time web-swinging since gaining spider powers, and he had to admit… it felt incredible. No wonder Peter loved sneaking out at night.
The suit's lenses didn't obstruct his vision at all, and Ben zeroed in on Connors in the second-floor hallway.
Connors held Peter with both hands, monstrous claws wrapped around Peter's body, squeezing hard enough to crush bone.
"Ah—!"
Peter's scream echoed down the hall.
Connors, in contrast, was calm—almost leisurely. His elongated reptilian snout was inches from Peter's face, fangs nearly as long as half Peter's head.
He sneered. "Poor Peter Parker. Why choose to stand against me?"
Peter couldn't form a single word. If Connors ripped off his mask right now, he'd see Peter's face flushed crimson from the trapped blood. His vision blurred, on the verge of blacking out.
"You have no father. No mother… so terribly alone."
Connors spoke with mock sympathy.
Starting today, all of New York would become his kin—except one.
Spider-Man.
"You'll be the only outlier, Peter. But don't worry—no one will look down on you." Connors' voice softened into a deadly whisper. "Because you'll die here."
"No, he won't!"
Just as Connors tightened his grip to snap Peter's neck, Ben's voice cut through the air.
Connors whirled toward the window—just in time to see a red-and-black blur streak toward him.
Crash!
Ben's kick, backed by several tons of force, shattered the window like it was paper and slammed into Connors' shoulder, sending the dinosaur-man flying.
"And he's not alone. He's got a cousin."
Ben flipped midair and landed cleanly, eyes snapping to Peter—who collapsed to the floor in a limp heap like his bones had turned to jelly.
"You okay?"
"Yeah… other than the several broken ribs…" Peter wheezed. "If you were any slower, I'd be a corpse."
"But you're not," Ben said, tossing him the serum injector. "I'll keep him busy. You find an opening and inject him."
"Wait—Ben…" Peter hesitated.
Ben assumed he was worried. "Don't worry about me."
"No—it's not that." Peter stared hopelessly at the tiny needle on the injector. "I just realized something. This won't pierce his skin."
Ben: "…"
"Sorry. When I made the serum, I only accounted for the Lizard." Ben rubbed his temple. "How was I supposed to know the Lizard would turn into a dinosaur?"
Boom!
Connors crashed down from above, demolishing another section of ceiling as he landed in front of them.
He spread his massive jaws wide.
"Two annoying spiders?"
"I didn't know Richard had another child. Whatever—"
He dismissed the thought, a savage grin twisting across his monstrous face. "This is excellent news. Congratulations, Peter. You won't be walking the road to death alone."
With a feral snarl, Connors charged—more beast than man.
/-\
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