Leo sped along the highway, cursing his miscalculation in his heart—
Peter's feelings of inferiority and cowardice should have been balanced by becoming Spiderman.
But why would this Peter Parker still conduct such an experiment?If he was already Spider-Man?
The answer was simple: he wasn't Spider-Man!
As soon as Leo noticed something was wrong, he began gathering information from the internet—
Thinking about Marvel, Spider-Man Peter Parker, and Dr. Curt Connors, Leo instinctively connected the three. But while fictional works follow a script, reality does not!
The "Spider-Man" on the internet wasn't the red-and-blue one; it was Spider-Gwen in black, white, and pink!
However, in his memory, it was Peter Parker who conducted the research on the Lizard serum in Spider-Gwen's world.
With the Lizard originally meant to be Dr. Connors, and the mutated Spider-biting Spider-Gwen instead of Peter. Leo could only chalk it up to the butterfly effect.
But there was no time to dwell on this—Leo had shut down as many devices in the lab as possible, but it was still 2011, not a cyberpunk world. Hackers couldn't gain 100% control without being near the electrical box!
Peter, having made up his mind, displayed impressive skills.
The lab cameras were turned off by Peter, and in the last frame, the Lizard serum had already been synthesized.
Screech—
The car came to a sudden stop in front of the school gate. Leo ignored the security guard emerging from the post and used his sandevistan to tap into the campus security network.
It was late at night, and hardly anyone could be seen on campus—but those still wandering soon turned their attention to the biology lab building.
There was a dull thud, and suddenly the lights on the entire floor went out, followed by darkness spreading from the fourth floor, where Dr. Connors' lab was located, downward.
Cracks formed in the stone pavement, and the ground collapsed—
Then, silence.
The nearby students were too terrified to move, staring in shock at what was happening.
Leo clicked his tongue and immediately called Captain Stacy—
George Stacy sat upright on the couch, waiting for Gwen to come home.
Beep, beep, beep—
"Leo? Calling this late?" George answered. "What's up?"
"A major public safety incident—Peter Parker, an intern assistant researcher at Empire University's Lab 3, conducted an unauthorized human experiment on himself.
The subject is currently fleeing."
George shot up from his seat—he knew who Peter Parker was.
"Peter Parker?!"
His shout echoed upstairs, and a faint sound came from Gwen's bedroom, but he didn't hear it.
"Yes, Peter Parker. He injected himself with an unapproved serum for human trials."
"A major safety incident…"
"Trust me, Captain, this is a serious safety threat—you ever seen a humanoid creature that can burrow from a lab all the way into the sewer system?
He's already mutated, and I need access to New York City's surveillance systems."
"Wait, wait—you're telling me Peter Parker, my daughter's close friend, who was supposed to be at Midtown High's dance tonight, is now a genetically-modified monster, running loose in New York City?!"
"That's exactly it."
Leo caught onto the key detail—Midtown High dance.
Before him was the wrecked lab—fortunately, the Lizard preferred damp environments, so Peter had moved through the sewer pipes, smashing through the bathroom floor.
Most of the equipment was still intact, save for a few pieces damaged by debris—
After quickly assessing the damage and snapping a few pictures, Leo packed up the equipment he needed.
On the other end of the line, George didn't fully grasp the situation, but he immediately put on his uniform. "Alright, I believe you. Here's the account and password for system access. If possible, please don't hurt him—or let him hurt anyone."
"That's a tough ask, Captain. You'll understand when you see him."
As George hung up the phone, he prepared to leave for the scene—
Before stepping out, he glanced back at his home and called Gwen, but she didn't pick up.
He left a voicemail: "Gwen, you're home late tonight. I was going to wait for you, but I have to work overtime. Things are dangerous right now, so call me as soon as you hear this."
Just as George got into his car, a white figure swung through the air, heading towards Midtown High.
Click, click, click— The cracks in the street outside Midtown High caused pedestrians to scream and flee in panic.
The cracks spread toward a manhole cover, and then—
Boom! The cover was blasted into the air by immense force, and a massive creature crawled out from the underground! The people in the nearby police car were stunned, frozen as they fumbled for their radios, unsure of what to report.
The creature's eyes flashed between confusion and savagery as it scanned its surroundings—until it saw the sign:
"Midtown High." That was its destination.
The enormous Lizard slowly moved toward the high school, and only then did the officer remember to activate his radio—
But the command center was already ahead of him:
"All NYPD personnel, a major public safety incident has occurred…"
Seeing the scene on the surveillance feed, Leo couldn't help but curse—
The size difference between his Lizard transformation and Peter's was nearly twofold.
Was that even a Lizard?! It looked more like a teenage Godzilla to Leo! Peter's Lizard form was nearly three meters tall! And that was in a semi-crawling state, with an absurdly long tail!
As embarrassing as it was to admit, handling this alone would be dangerous for Leo.
In the surveillance footage, a white figure swung after him.
Leo breathed a small sigh of relief—but this time, he wasn't here just to deal with the Lizard.
Although Peter had acted out of insecurity, he had followed Leo's envisioned human experiment scenario, equipping himself with a lot of monitoring devices—
These devices were designed based on Leo's Lizardification biological model. Though incomplete, they were still functional.
After Lizardification, the skin becomes covered in tough keratin, offering protection comparable to steel plates.
In this case, how could biological data be retrieved? Leo's solution was to insert the devices into the body before any shape-shifting occurred. These devices needed to be highly pressure-resistant, and the sensors had to transmit data wirelessly to avoid cables snapping during movement.
Peter's transformation far exceeded Leo's expectations. A large portion of the experimental equipment was damaged, but some remained embedded in his skin.
Most importantly, Leo had designed six injection ports in the equipment. These were meant to bypass the hard Lizard skin in case a syringe couldn't pierce it. Two of those ports were still visible on Peter's body.
Leo soon caught up, ignoring the fleeing crowd and driving into Midtown High in the opposite direction—
The signal came through, though it was intermittent.
Data began to flood the computer.
Peter had made a grave mistake, one that could potentially derail Leo's planned progress—but ultimately, as the project lead, this was also Leo's responsibility.
He had instinctively tried to impose his first thoughts onto reality, forgetting to conduct a background check on the lab personnel.
This wasn't a movie or a comic book world—despite the familiar elements surrounding Leo.
This was real life.
But complaints, regrets, and blame wouldn't change anything now. Leo could only try to minimize the damage and correct the error.
"I didn't expect to face the Lizard myself so soon."
The NYPD soon arrived on the scene, and under George's orders, they began securing the area—
The captain appeared tense. "Leo—what's the situation?"
"The target's inside, but someone else is following him—it's the Spider-Woman that's been trending online recently."
"Spider-Woman?" George was taken aback. "She's here? I thought she was just an attention-seeker."
"Not anymore. We'd better hope she's as strong as they say; otherwise, this backup won't be enough."
George was about to respond when a massive explosion suddenly shook the Midtown High building!
Boom! A section of the building was blasted open, and the sound continued, with part of the structure collapsing shortly afterward. If you looked closely, you could see a green arm and white claws through the smoke. The scene left George speechless.
Leo grabbed the signal receiver he'd prepared, strapped on his backpack with a few vials of serum inside, and turned to head toward the battle zone.
George quickly stopped him—
"What are you doing?"
"Peter Parker is an intern assistant researcher in our lab. It's my responsibility to handle this."
George twitched at the corners of his mouth, glancing at the building that was still echoing with explosions. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
The captain looked into Leo's eyes, realizing he wasn't joking, and said sternly, "I'll help you. You're not a cop—tell me what to do."
Leo shook his head and said seriously, "Captain, I'm not joking. I have to be on-site, but if you want to help, you can ensure the signal receiver stays safe.
I need to determine which serum is suitable for Peter right now. This is a serious task; if I mess up, he could die."
George hesitantly took the signal receiver, then watched as Leo headed into the fray, feeling a bit conflicted—
But this wasn't the time to worry about details. Holding the receiver, George directed the police officers to fortify the site.
"...Team A, continue to evacuate the crowd, Team B, stay behind me, keep your distance, and rescue the wounded."
At the same time, Leo ran into the school building, carefully calculating his next move as he sprinted ahead.