In front of Peter's house.
George glanced at his watch.
It was already past ten at night.
The lights in Peter's house were out, indicating that the couple had gone to bed.
"We'll keep watch for a little longer. If nothing happens, we'll wrap it up for the night."
"Notify Group B to take over the watch."
"Report immediately if Peter Parker leaves Oscorp Industries!"
One of the detectives behind him curiously asked, "Chief, does a giant lizard like that really exist?"
George was silent for a moment before replying, "We're here to do our job. Whether the giant lizard exists or not doesn't matter!"
"Keep your eyes on the target."
S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.
Nick Fury sat in his office, listening to Coulson's latest report.
After the report ended, Nick Fury sighed, "He's really quite different from his father."
In his memories, Howard Stark had always been much more approachable.
He was also a genius.
To Nick Fury, Howard's brilliance was in no way inferior to Tony's.
The only thing that had limited Howard's talents was the war-torn era he lived in.
After all, during that time, Howard had helped create America's first superhero, one who still influenced the country to this day.
At that moment, there was a knock at the office door.
"Come in."
Agent Hill pushed the door open and walked in. "Good evening. There's something I need to report."
Nick Fury gestured for her to continue.
After tapping on her tablet a few times, several images appeared on the large screen in Nick Fury's office.
The images showed a rundown laboratory.
Nick Fury looked puzzled. "Why are you showing me this?"
"Perhaps this one will interest you more."
With a swipe, a photo of a large shed skin appeared on the screen.
Seeing this, Nick Fury was immediately reminded of the encounter that night. His face, still healing from scars, began to throb faintly.
"Where did this come from?"
"The NYPD. The lab in question belongs to State University, specifically to a man named Dr. Curtis Connors."
The screen shifted again, this time displaying all of Connors' personal information.
"Is that giant lizard connected to this man?"
Agent Hill took a deep breath and replied, "It's still unclear, but the NYPD commissioner has already begun investigating."
"Hill, send the footage from the night of our attack to the commissioner."
"Understood, sir."
"Also, Tony has already confronted Obadiah, and it seems things didn't go well."
"Has he uncovered the connection between Kingpin and Obadiah?"
"Not yet, but he has discovered the weapons."
"We'll just have to see how he handles it from here."
...
Inside the Private Car.
Just as George was about to call off the stakeout and head back, having seen no activity from Peter's house, a detective suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, look at this!"
An anonymous account had sent a video to his tablet for no apparent reason.
Everyone in the car leaned in to watch.
The video appeared to be shot from inside a car, showing a quiet scene outside at first. Then, suddenly, there was a loud thud on the roof, followed by a sharp claw smashing into the windshield. A terrifying lizard head, drooling heavily, appeared in front of the glass.
"Is this the lizard that shed its skin?"
Two young detectives in the back swallowed nervously. As rookies, they'd never seen anything like this before.
Though they knew that mutants existed in this world, it was something they had only heard of, not experienced firsthand.
"Can you trace who sent the video?" George asked, his expression dark after watching the video.
The detective shook his head, "No, the sender was very careful. It was sent from a disposable anonymous account."
"After this one message, all traces of the account disappeared."
"It's almost as if…"
"It was sent to us on purpose," George finished, then added, "Alright, everyone, load your guns."
"If we run into that giant lizard, don't hesitate—shoot on sight!"
"Understood, Chief!"
Click!
The sound of bullets being chambered echoed through the car, and the atmosphere turned tense.
As everyone held their breath and scanned the surroundings, a faint metallic clattering sound came from a nearby street.
Though it was quiet, on such a still night, the noise stood out sharply.
George immediately made a silencing gesture to everyone in the car and signaled for them to exit using hand signals.
He then motioned for one officer to accompany him to investigate.
They quietly opened the car doors and split into two groups, as George had instructed.
No one noticed that on the rooftop of a nearby building, Alan, wearing the Emperor Armor, was already watching from above.
Thanks to interference from Red Queen, wherever he went in his transformed state, surveillance cameras were blacked out.
Alan didn't need to worry about being spotted unless both Tony and S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites were monitoring New York City 24/7.
"How much longer until Gwen arrives?"
"Gwen will be here in three minutes!"
"Then I'll keep observing for now."
Alan had seen everything clearly just moments ago. The Lizard Connors had crawled out of the sewer and was now hiding in the shadows of a nearby house, sniffing the air in George's direction.
Clearly, Connors had also picked up on something unusual.
At that moment, George, with his colleague in tow, cautiously searched the area with guns drawn.
With his sharp eyes, George quickly noticed a manhole cover on the ground that had been pried open.
He signaled his partner, and the two nodded to each other before slowly approaching the manhole cover.
Almost simultaneously, they reached the edge and aimed their guns downwards.
But it was pitch black below, with nothing visible and a faint acidic stench wafting up.
George pulled out a flashlight and shone it into the hole, revealing nothing of interest below.
"Chief, be careful."
Just as George let his guard down, his colleague's warning came.
Instinctively, George threw himself forward into a roll just as a claw swiped through the space where he had been standing, narrowly missing him.
Another detective immediately fired multiple shots at the monstrous creature that had suddenly appeared.
The crack of gunfire echoed through the night, piercingly loud.
But not a single light turned on in any house. In fact, the few houses that had been lit quickly turned their lights off after the shots were fired.
The entire street remained eerily quiet.
And the officer who fired the shots witnessed something utterly bewildering. "How… how is this even possible…?"
...