Spider-Man: Marvel Knight

Chapter 7-Unexpected Help

   Peter sat and listened to everything Harry and Otto told him. They told him about this happening mildly about a year ago. It had something to do with the reptile/ human DNA merge. It had too many side effects that conflicted with nature laws. If Pete hadn't been sitting in the remains of the pharmaceutical lab, he would never believe it. Kurt Connors was a reptile....a lizard man, now. He was a human...now he's a lizard, and it was all because of project x.
   Peter rubbed between his eyes. "This sucks...all my fault." He looked at Otto. "How long does the serum last?" he asked.
   Otto put his hands in his pockets and sighed. "It was a permanent formula," he replied. "Kurt changed it after the test run." Peter cursed silently and kicked a piece of drywall. Otto spoke up. "But..."
   Peter looked back at him. "But, what?"
   Harry finished Otto's sentence. "But, it can be reversed, if a proper antidote was created." Peter eyed him for a few seconds. "It might take a while, but reverse engineering isn't impossible with this."
   Peter thought for a second. After a little bit, he turned towards his friends. "We're gonna fix this," he said. "We helped Kurt make project x. This is our responsibility... Our mission to stop him."
   Harry looked at Pete with an eyebrow raised. "Why not let the police take a crack at him? They've helped you wrangle baddies in the past. Remember how they helped you with Electro?"
   Pete shook his head. "That's not gonna happen," he replied. "After tonight, after I saw what he's capable of, the police stand no chance. He's stronger than Rhino and faster than Kraven. I've already called Yuri and told her men not to pursue. I've decided that this is solely Spider-Man's responsibility."
   Otto grabbed Peter's shoulder. "Our responsibility, Pete. Our responsibility." Peter looked over at Harry, who nodded in agreement. "Let's get our Kurt back."
   Peter smiled. He walked over to the, now cracked, computer screen on the wall. He opened the project x file. "How much time would we need to synthesize an antidote? You said it would take a while, but it's not impossible, right?"
   Otto started typing in formulas and variables into the system. "We dohave enough samples of project x to make one. All we need to do is reverse the formula."
   Harry nodded and smiled. "Okay, that's great and all, guys. This is the easy part. How are we gonna get it inside him? You two do realize that the Lizard will kill us even if we get remotely close to him, right?"
   "Well," Peter started, "we do know where he is. After he painted the wall with me one last time, he retreated into the sewers via Chinatown."
   Otto nodded optimistically. "Okay, so he's in the sewers. We can get him."
   Peter grimaced. "Easier said than done, Otto," he said. "Those sewer tunnels are a freakin' maze. Even with my spider sense, I'd be blind as a bat down there."
   Harry thought for a second. "So, we get a tracker on him. Once we have that, we have a map of the sewers."
   Otto shot Harry a look as if he weren't thinking. "Peter just said that even he couldn't get close to the Lizard. There's no way we could get a tracker on him."
   That gave Peter an idea. He knew someone who could...someone he should've locked up but decided to let off with a warning due to...stuff. "Not necessarily," Pete said. They looked at him with their full attention. "I know someone who knows those sewers in and out, and she's agile enough to get the tracker on him without getting a scratch. Guaranteed."
   Otto sighed. "You're absolutely sure about this? We only have one chance of this."
   "It's the only thing that'll work right now," he responded. "We have no other choice at this point."
   They all looked at each other and agreed that this was the plan that they were going to use. Otto got Harry's attention. "Hey, Harry, come help me with this. If we're gonna get that antidote in him, we might need these things."
   "I'll be right there," Harry said. He looked over at Pete. "Hey, Peter, you coming?"
   Peter pulled out his phone. "I will in a second. I got a phone call to make."
   His friend paused for a second. "Do you really think she'll do it? You know how she can be." he asked.
   Peter smiled. "She owes me a favor." He looked for her contact and pressed the call button.

   Felicia was working on a new digital lock pick for one of her new heists in her apartment. It was hard to keep a reputation as a cat burglar in a city where criminals suddenly started riding on gliders and shooting electricity out of their hands.
   Her phone began to buzz, which surprised her, since she didn't have any contacts, and, because of her electronics mastery, she blocked almost everyone in New York from calling her to keep her low profile. That meant, it could only be one person.
   She bit her lip and answered. "Spidey, Spidey, Spidey, I told you that this line is for business only. If you want to talk dirty to me, you can do it in person."
   Peter shook her head and chuckled at Felicia's craziness. After he and Gwen broke up, he had, sort of, a fling with her. The only thing was, she was in love with Spider-Man, not Peter Parker. "Actually, Felicia, this is business," he replied. "How have you been?"
   She giggled. "Parker, if you're talking business, then you should skip the foreplay," she said with a seductive smile. "What business are we talking about? Crimefighting? Surveillance? Or maybe something a little more...nasty?"
   Peter chuckled in awkwardness. "Actually, none of the above." He scratched his head. "Have you watched the news lately?"
   Felicia looked at her TV which was showing the replay of Peter fighting the "Lizard". "I have, wallcrawler. And must I say you look very sexy fighting that reptile."
   Peter sighed. "Actually, the business is about the Lizard. Do you still have the NYC sewers memorized?"
   She giggled and pushed her bleached hair behind her ear. "Of course, dear. Am I getting a hint at a game of chase?"
   "If you mean chasing a lizard man? Yes."
   She licked her lips. "Sounds...exciting. What's in it for me, though?"
   "Actually," Peter replied, "if you remember, you owe me for bailing you out of jail for that DUI...and after you broke the police officer's arm that was arresting you."
   "Awww, you remembered," she said. "I knew that you'd keep memories of me."
   "So, do we have business?"
   Felicia thought for a moment. There was not going to be any money out of it, but she was helping her favorite, amazing, spectacular Spider-Man. "A solid is a solid," she said sticking her tongue out, if Peter were right in front of her. "What's the plan?"
   Peter took a deep breath and exhaled. "That lizard man is actually a good friend of mine. We need to give him the antidote, or New York will have a giant reptile roaming around New York."
   "And I'm guessing he's in the sewers," she said licking her pearly white teeth. "Isn't that a funny thing? A reptile in the sewers. So, you want little ole me to give him the antidote?"
   "Actually, we're still trying to make one," Peter said. "We need you place a tracker on him. That's it."
   Felicia giggled. "Why don't you use your spider sense and go do it yourself?"
   "Felicia," he said in all seriousness, "you, the biggest Spider-Man fan of all, should know that my spider sense would be useless in the sewers. I'd be completely lost down there."
   "Hmm. You have a good point, Parker."
   "So, we have a deal? We have business?"
   She giggled. "It's a date!"