Spider-Man/Muppets Fanfic: The Spectacular

[muppetwriter]

Chapter Seventeen​

Harry Osborn sat in the great room of his town house, calmly stirring a martini with a long spoon. He felt more self-assured than he had in ages. Close nearby was Rachel Bitterman, sitting at her desk and reading a copy of Mein Kampf with a wicked smile sitting across her face (either from the material in the book or the things that she and Harry had done in the past hours). Suddenly they both stopped, sensing a change in the atmosphere of the room. They turned and saw two figures standing in the doorway behind them.

Rachel and Harry both exhaled a relaxed sigh, as if some old friends had come to call and have a pleasant chat. “Don’t know why I’m not so surprised to see you still alive.”

“We Greeks have that effect on evil, murderous bankers,” came the taut voice of Jenny, who was accompanied by a nervous yet angry Rizzo the Rat. “You killed two people who I cared about very much, Rachel. One of them just happened to have been my father.”

“I killed your father.” Rachel freely admitted. “So you’ve come to kill me?”

“Wow. A psychic and a psycho!” Jenny sarcastically remarked.

Harry gingerly put the martini down on the table next to him, taking care not to spill it. “If you plan on getting to her, Jenny…you’ll have to go through me first.”

Jenny’s only reaction to his challenge was a devilish grin that had quickly crept across her face. “Don’t think for a second that I’ve forgotten how you called me a tramp one evening and pushed me to the floor like I was some rag doll.” That one memory was what made her just as furious at him as she was at Rachel. “You’re no better than she is in my book, Harry. That’s why I’m really going to enjoy knocking you both senseless.”

Harry and Rachel were both surprised to see how Jenny was advancing on them as she made her remarks. Rizzo was surprised as well, never before seeing her act so aggressive in the face of death. It was enough to force the rat into finding a safe place to hide, while Jenny confronted the aunt and nephew team. The best place he could find was the inside of a nearby trashcan.

Remaining cool in the face of the unexpected, Rachel replied, “Not as much as I enjoyed it when I watched both your father and his pathetic diner go up in flames. It was like a marvelous piece of fine art—the bodies turning to ash and the walls crumbling down. And the smell of it all…it reminded me of that fine Greek dish your father never had the chance to make. What was it? Oh, yes.” She sighed, recalling. “Keftes.”

She was utterly shocked as Jenny hurtled through the air straight at him. Rachel had about a split second to react, which wasn’t remotely enough time. Jenny slammed into her, sending the table and Harry’s martini crashing to the floor. Rizzo stuck his head out from the trashcan long enough to see how Rachel had made a very unexpected and yet remarkable move. She twisted, sending Jenny flying overhead and slamming into a set of selves upon which various curios had been placed. The top shelf was jolted loose, fell onto the one below it, which fell unto the one below that, and so on until they all hit bottom, crushing all the curios into dust.

How da heck did she do dat, Rizzo thought.

And the rat was even more stunned to hear his unasked question answered by Rachel herself, as she staggered to her feet. “You’re gonna find out, sweetheart, as I’m kickin’ your big, fat Greek butt that I’m not the same witch you think you’ve known for years!”

“I think it’s time I got a lick in, Aunt Rachel.” Harry uttered, and he advanced towards the fallen Jenny, ready to unleash his own brutal attack. But that was until something out of nowhere tackled him to the floor. It didn’t take long for Rachel and Harry or even Rizzo to realize that it was Peter Parker, wearing regular street clothes over his black costume as he and Harry tumbled across the room.

Rizzo seemed totally perplexed at the violence that the once meek geeks that were Jenny and Peter had been displaying in that room. It seemed like only yesterday when he was joining them at a scientific convention, which the two had politely begged him to come to. If they planned on using brute force to get him to attend future conventions, he would be best to acknowledge before they would even ask.

Realizing that Harry had Peter Parker taken care of, Rachel proceeded to handle Jenny. As she attempted to get to her feet, Rachel kicked her back down and pinned her there long enough to grab her shirt and tear it from her body, exposing the upper half of the catsuit that she wore underneath. “You stole this from me, you little tramp! And I want it back…NOW!”

Jenny wasn’t listening. The only thing she had on her mind at that moment was to beat the life out of Rachel Bitterman, whether she had gained marvelous strength or not. She kicked the evil banker away from her and flipped herself back to her feet, charging at Rachel afterwards and causing them both to fall over a chair, upending it. The two combatants rolled across the floor several times, exchanging fierce and mighty blows with each other. Jenny had executed just as impressive moves as Rachel did, spinning in the air at rapid pace to execute a series of roundhouse kicks that blasted Rachel four times in the face.

Rizzo’s eyes went left and right between the two battles, trying desperately to catch up with them both. While he was doing so, Fozzie Bear had suddenly entered the great room, greeted by the chaotic brutality that had quickly plagued the room. Noticing Rizzo nearby in the trashcan, Fozzie immediately ran to him, ducking a bust that had flown over his head and smashed against the wall in the process. When he was near Rizzo, he hid behind the trashcan that the rat was hiding inside of while keeping an eye on the battles taking place in the room.

“What the heck’s goin’ on?” Fozzie exclaimed.

Rizzo did his best to keep the bear up to speed on the situation. “Well, one minute, we’re comin’ in ta find Bitterman and Osborn in here readin’ and suckin’ on martinis, and den da next, Rachel and Jenny are pretty much beatin’ de snot outta each other.”

“Where did Peter come from?”

“I have no idea. De guy charged in like a rat outta h*ll and started beatin’ up on Harry Osborn.”

“Isn’t that supposed to be a bat outta h*ll?”

“I dunno. I’m too emotionally driven right now ta make sense!”

Fozzie and Rizzo were immediately taken by surprise as the desk that they were hiding near had suddenly collapsed under the weight of Rachel Bitterman, who was knocked onto it by the agile Jenny. The former diner waitress then displayed more feats of agility, as she flipped across the air and landed on top of Rachel’s body, pinning her to the pile of broken wood that she was laying on.

“I’m going to make sure you feel the pain that you caused me when you killed my father!” Jenny exclaimed, before she had commenced in sending brutal punches from the left and right side of Rachel’s head. The blows were coming in hard and fast, forcing Rachel’s head to swing left and right from every punch Jenny’s strengthened fists unleashed.

The ferocity of Jenny’s punishment on Rachel was too much for Fozzie and Rizzo to handle, so they focused on the other fight taking place—the one between Harry and Peter. They watched the two of them fly backward and crash into the mirror hanging on the wall—into it…and through. They landed inside the Goblin’s secret lair, and Peter looked around in confusion, startled over what he was seeing. With superhuman strength, Harry took the opportunity to grab a Sky Stick and swing it around like a baseball bat. It struck Peter in the side of the head, staggering him. Harry brought it sweeping back in the other direction…but Peter grabbed the flying device, yanked it from Harry’s grasp, and tossed it aside.

He swung a punch at Harry, who ducked under it and came in fast with several quick blows to Peter’s gut. Peter faltered, recovered, and fired a blot of webbing at Harry’s feet. Harry tried to get out of the way, but the webbing affixed itself to him, holding fast. He tried to yank his feet free, but there was no time as Peter swung a vicious roundhouse that nearly took Harry’s head off. As it was, Peter solved Harry’s immobility problem—the blow so fierce that it knocked Harry right out of his webbed-up shoes. Harry was flat on his back, and Peter gave him no time to get up. He landed heavily atop Harry, and with the same unbelievable ferocity that Jenny was unleashing on Rachel, started hammering him in the face.

It was then that Rizzo began looking left and right swiftly and repeatedly with a puzzled look on his face. He didn’t know what got into Jenny to make her so brutally fierce, and he didn’t know how Rachel could be able to take every punch without showing any signs of suffering. But it didn’t take him much to figure out who Peter Parker and Harry Osborn both were. Harry, of course, was none other than the Green Goblin that he had been hearing about from the news—that much was clear from the view he got of the Goblin lair.

But Peter Parker…was Spider-Man?

Good God! What da heck have I been missin’ out on all these years? No wonder he’s been runnin’ away from danger like a little chicken! He’s somewhere switchin’ into his costume! But my only question now is…when did he start becomin’ so murderously violent?

Meanwhile, Harry’s mind was swimming. This wasn’t the Peter Parker that he’d encountered last time. To some degree, he’d counted on the notion that, in a head-to-head battle, Peter would always hold back. It was a weakness in Spider-Man’s character—a reluctance to be up-front about the murdering cretin that he truly was—that Harry had come to expect. Not this time, though—Peter was cutting loose with the sort of murderous intensity that he had no doubt unleashed upon Norman Osborn.

Harry was on the receiving end of as brutal a pounding as anyone had ever endured. If it weren’t for the heightened strength that the green gas had given both him and his aunt, they would’ve both been long dead. As it was, the room was spinning around him, and Peter wasn’t letting up for even a second. Harry couldn’t even begin to mount a defense. His head slumped back, and Peter cocked a fist, looking ready to punch it straight through Harry’s head and into the floor below.

Through lips that were thick and swollen, Harry managed to say, “You gonna kill me like you killed my father?”

“Your father was a monster!” Peter shouted. “And you know it! He tried to stab me in the back! I jumped out of the way. He got what he meant for me.” He brought his face close to Harry’s, and Harry saw a terrifying grin. “He never loved you. Who could love you? Your aunt? I doubt it. She only wants you because you’re ‘Goblin Jr.’, meaning you’re her last line of defense against the Muppets and me. But the joke’s on her, ‘cause you’re crap, Harry. Pure, unadulterated crap.”

Peter was just trying to give back some of the same mind games that Harry had dished out, but he was infuriated nevertheless. “My father loved me!”

“He despised you! You were an embarrassment!”

Reveling in tormenting Harry, Peter let down his guard for a second, and Harry seized the opportunity. He brought a fist around and slugged Peter in the side of the head, then hit him again, and a third time. Peter fell sideways off him, and Harry crab-walked backward, scuttling quickly toward a rack that was lined with pumpkin bombs. In a crouch, he grabbed one off the shelf. Harry was having trouble seeing, his right eye having swollen closed, the left not far behind, so he hurled the bomb as best he could.

Through the slit of vision he had left, he saw Peter snag the bomb with a web strand. Harry reached for a second one, then he froze as Peter snapped the bomb around like a yo-yo and sent it hurtling right back at Harry. He threw up his hands to try to ward it off. Too slow. The bomb exploded in Harry’s face, blasting him backward, the room immediately filling with acrid smoke.

The quake and sound that the explosion had made was intense, enough to stop Jenny from hammering Bitterman long enough to see what had transpired. She, Fozzie, and Rizzo looked towards the entranceway to the Goblin lair, seeing clouds of black smoke rapidly billowing out from it. It wasn’t long before Peter came out as well, with not a single scratch on him. The wicked grin of satisfaction on his face was enough to creep out both Fozzie and Rizzo at the same time. Even as Parker was heading out of the room through the doorway, he looked in their direction and gave a wink.

As soon as Peter was gone, Jenny realized that it was her turn to make the final blow on her opponent as well. She stood up while picking Rachel’s barely conscious body from the pile of broken wood, and with a tremendous amount of her superhuman strength, she hurled Rachel across the air and into the set of double glass doors that led to the balcony outside. Crashing through them, Rachel’s body rolled a few times before stopping. She laid there on the floor of the balcony, battered and bruised with several bits of glass covering her inert body.

Rizzo and Fozzie felt as if they were witnessing the unforgettable moments of a horrible nightmare. They just watched two human beings suffer atrocious punishment at the hands of two once-innocent people. Harry Osborn and Rachel Bitterman might’ve both been unbelievable jerks, but not even they deserved something so sickening. However, in the back of his mind, Rizzo knew that Rachel had it coming to her the moment she killed Pete. But did Jenny really have to “kill” the woman back? It just wasn’t in her nature, which was why her actions were so shocking to both him and Fozzie.

Stepping onto the balcony and taking one last look at Rachel in her unconscious state, Jenny had then leaped over the edge and disappeared. Witnessing her sudden suicidal move, Fozzie and Rizzo both reacted in horror, moving away from and out of the trashcan and rushing out onto the balcony, passing by Rachel and approaching the edge. But when they looked over it, they surprisingly found no sign of the plummeting Jenny.

“Where’d she go?” Fozzie asked, just as he found a pair of black pants and a shredded black blouse dangling over the edge. Rizzo looked at the two and the only notion that could’ve come to mind was that Jenny wasn’t going back to the Happiness Hotel or Ronnie’s mansion in Queens. She wasn’t even Jenny anymore…the young woman that he watched moments ago had the swiftness and intensity of a fierce cat…and that’s exactly how Jenny looked…like a black cat.

Now I definitely have good reason ta be scared of her…I don’t even like cats!

All of the sudden, Rizzo and Fozzie heard a loud groan bellow out from inside the smoking Goblin lair. It was frightening enough to force the two Muppets to leap over the edge of the balcony themselves. But instead they took the old fashioned way out, which was through the doorway leading into the great room. Neither of them noticed how Harry started hauling himself across the floor, having no trouble gripping the surface, as his hands were sticky with blood. He registered this fact distantly, as if it were relevant to someone else.

Every moment agonizing, he managed to make his way out of the Goblin’s lair. He squinted through his one working eye and saw no sign of Peter or Jenny. He did, however, see his aunt lying out on the balcony and moving only a little, signifying that she was still alive after Jenny’s onslaught. So typical. Peter and Jenny had Harry and his aunt at their mercy, and instead of killing them, they’d decided to leave them alive so that Harry and Rachel could worry about the next time they’d attack.

Well, that was going to be a mistake…oh, yes. Because next time…

With smoke billowing past him, Harry looked down and saw a large shard of the shattered mirror door on the floor in front of him. He glanced into it and gasped, wondering who the heck that poor, grotesque devil was looking back at him. It took Harry a few moments to realize that it was himself.

His horrified, sustained scream resounded through the penthouse. And there was Rachel laid out on the balcony, looking up a little to see what had happened to her nephew. It almost sickened her to see how disfigured Harry had become. But one thought made her feel somewhat satisfied by it…

At least the tramps will be staying away from him now that he’s a freak.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

The next day felt like the start of a new life for Peter Parker as he headed out into the street, walking with his arms swaying loosely, his shoulders straighter. With his clothes pulled on over the black costume, any doubts he might have harbored were erased as he had it on. He immediately felt stronger, more self-assured. He considered heading out as Spider-Man, but no. Not yet. For some reason he felt like facing the world as the newly confident Peter Parker. He was someone who couldn’t be hurt, couldn’t be messed with, and couldn’t be stepped on as if his feelings meant nothing. He’d never realized before how tentatively he moved through the world when he wasn’t web-swinging.

Picturing John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, he started to strut.

Men sidestepped to get out of his way without even realizing they were doing it…and women were giving him a second look as he passed by. He shot off smiles to them, even an occasional humorous two-fingered salute.

Things were feeling pretty darn good for the first time in a while. Here he had thought that he needed Mary Jane for the world to be in focus for him—instead Mary Jane’s presence had blurred things, like an additional lens on a telescope. She shifted the attention away from what was really important: Peter Parker, the man, the myth, and the legend.

As he crossed Broadway, he spotted the Muppet Theatre across the street, where the Electric Mayhem band were practicing with their instruments near the entrance to the theatre, attracting a huge crowd while performing a song that Peter felt in a way related to him…

Back in black, I hit the sack,
I’ve been too long, I’m glad to be back!
Yes I’m let loose from the noose,
That’s kept me hangin’ about.
Forget the hearse, ‘cause I never die!
I got nine lives, cat’s eyes,
abusing every one of them and running wild!

‘Cause I’m back! Yes, I’m back!
Well, I’m back! Yes, I’m back!
Well, I’m baaack, baaack…
Well, I’m back in black,
Yes, I’m back in black!

Peter’s attention was soon directed away from the Muppet band by a group of people chatting at a newsstand. Normally he would have ignored it. But then “Spider-Man” was mentioned, leaping out at him and catching his attention. Praising him, no doubt. Perhaps word had gotten out about how he had disposed of Sandman, an action that he had previously felt conflicted about but now wasn’t bothering him in the least.

He sidled toward them and was stunned to hear anything but praise. Comments flew fast and furious, and none of them were flattering.

“I think it’s awful.”

“He’s supposed to be a role model.”

“Spider-Man was my son’s hero before today, but now…”

“Edna always said he was a schlemiel, didn’t ya, Edna?”

“Schlemiel.”

Overcome with curiosity and not a little concern, Peter drew close to the newsstand to see what the commotion was all about. He stared at the front page of the Daily Bugle, at first thinking it had to be some sort of joke. Then he grabbed it up, and his hands tightened on it in cold fury.

“Spider-Man, Thief!” the headline blared in what looked like seventy-two point type. Below it a subheading read, “Spidey Shows His True Colors.” Splashed across the front page was a photograph so convincing, Peter’s first thought was, Did I do that? I don’t remember doing that.

There he was in the black costume, leaping away from the bank with bags of money in either hand.

Peter started to wander away, and the newsvendor shouted, “Hey! Where do you think you’re going with that? You have to pay for it. Who do you think you are, stealing stuff: Spider-Man?”

The snide comment drew laughter from the others standing around, and Peter’s first thought was that if they all had one neck, he’d break it. Then he considered bringing the whole newsstand down around the vendor’s ears. Forget it—that would only exacerbate the problem. He fished out a quarter from his pocket and flipped it to the vendor. Then he went back to the paper.

He turned to the story, which went into detail about how Spider-Man had been caught in the act by the aggressive and fearless reportage of the Daily Bugle (with no mention of Ron Stoppable or even Kim Possible at all). Sources in the police department asserted that, upon being shown the irrefutable evidence, police captains George Stacy and Jerry Larkin had declared to their men, “We just gave this guy the key to the city, and now he’s made a fool out of all of us. Go find him!”

Larkin then added afterwards, “I knew he was a bad seed from the moment we found him near the Hudson River, years ago.”

Fearless reportage? What kind of…?

Quickly he flipped back to the cover photo, and there it was, big as life: a photo credit to Eddie Brock.

“I should have known,” Peter snarled. He stared at the picture long and hard. It still had that disconcerting feel of familiarity to it, as if he had really committed the crime. He started to second-guess himself, wondering if the suit had somehow compelled him to steal the money and—

Then the anger left Peter as it struck him exactly why the picture looked familiar. Staring at it longer, he then started to laugh. It drew strange looks from the people nearby, but he didn’t care. He was flooded with relief upon discovering the truth. And now that he knew it, he was going to take it and shove it down J. Jonah Jameson’s throat and up Eddie Brock’s backside, all at the same time.

He only hoped Sean and Lori would be there to see it happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~​

Sean and Lori were in fact at the Daily Bugle that morning, but they wished that they hadn’t come to see how much attention Eddie Brock was getting. There he was taking some pride in his brand-new cubicle in the city room, which wasn’t much to write about. It was, however, a start on his part, and he had every confidence that the corner office he coveted would be his sooner or later…probably sooner.

The sparsely decorated cubicle held only the three photos that he’d taken of Gwen at the key-to-the-city ceremony. Until recently, his memories of that event were far too painful, considering the shameless display of lip smacking that Spider-Man had foisted upon the public. That was no longer a concern. Who had the last laugh, Bug Man? Not you, that’s for d****d sure.

A bottle of champagne was on his desk, courtesy of J. Jonah Jameson…a remarkably cheap brand, but what else would one expect? Well-wishers and coworkers had gathered in Eddie’s cubicle for an impromptu party, and one of them was busily pouring the champagne into plastic cups. They were all toasting him and his continued success at the Bugle. Eddie had no delusions that any of them especially liked him. But they could sense an up-and-comer when they saw one, so nobody wanted to be on his bad side. Instead they preferred to bask in reflected glory or, even better, attach themselves to his forward career movement like remora to a shark.

Only Sean and Lori were the exception of the group, as they were far away from the scene and near Sean’s desk, where Sean had been sitting behind it (and looking rather ill at the same time) and Lori was leaning against it. She crossed her arms and glared at the display of all their fellow employees standing around Brock and kissing up to him. It was enough to make her sick herself.

“Look at him. Soakin’ it all up like a sponge…more like Spongebob Squarepants.” Lori snickered at her own joke, but she was a little surprised to soon discover that she was the only one laughing over it. She turned her attention away from Brock’s celebration and focused on her brother, quickly noticing how under the weather he appeared to be. “Are you okay, bro? I know my jokes can suck at times, but you have to admit that one…”

“I’m just not feeling too well today, Alissa.” She knew instantly that something was wrong, because he rarely ever addressed her by her first name. “I haven’t been feeling well, ever since the incident at the science building.”

Like a caring mother, Lori placed the back of her hand over Sean’s forehead, making sure if he had a fever or not. The surface of his forehead didn’t feel warm at all, which pretty much clarified her suspicions of one. “Well, you don’t seem to be coming down with anything like the flu.” Her attention then went to his right forearm, which was the same one that he had sustained third-degree burns to during the accident. “Maybe you haven’t changed your bandage today. You have to keep yourself aware of your injury, Sean, because you might…”

Just as soon as she had pulled back the sleeve of his shirt, a look of surprise had suddenly come over her face. Not only did she not see a bandage covering Sean’s forearm, but also she didn’t see any burns either. The third-degree burn was no longer there…only average looking flesh. It was almost as if Sean had never gotten burned at all.

“Uh…I’m no nurse or doctor or anything, Sean,” Lori stated, “But I don’t think third-degree burns are supposed to heal over such a short amount of time. I don’t think they’re supposed to heal at all.”

Sean was just as surprised over the phenomenon as his sister was when he realized it only a few moments after he had left the accident at Connors’s office and returned to the Happiness Hotel in perfect health. He couldn’t explain it then, just as he couldn’t explain it now. And Lori realized just that, as he noticed the look of confusion and horror on his face while staring at his bare, unscarred forearm.

“Maybe we should go see Edward about this.” Lori suggested. “He is a doctor after all. Maybe he could explain…”

“No! I’m not going to be some lame test subject for your boyfriend to study on! I’d much rather see this as a blessing from God than some freaky discovery that a foreign scientist would love to get a Nobel Prize for!” Sean’s words came with much hatred, fury, and exclamation that it nearly brought away the attention on Eddie’s celebration. Lori was taken aback by his sudden anger, watching him as he rolled his sleeve back down over his forearm and got up from his desk. “I’m going back to the Hotel to get some rest. Tell Jonah that I threw up in the trashcan or something.”

He then started off towards the elevator, which had opened just as he approached it. Stepping out of the elevator was Peter Parker, who gave Sean a pleasant greeting as he entered the elevator and departed from the floor. While watching Peter strut in her direction, Lori couldn’t stop thinking about her brother’s unusual condition. It was so perplexing to her that she barely even heard Peter say, “What’s happenin’, Lore? Keepin’ those cheeks sweet for me?” But she was soon snapped out of her thoughts as soon as she felt a pinching sensation come over her backside.

Her head quickly turned in Peter’s direction, as he started walking away from her and heading towards Eddie’s cubicle. For a moment, she consciously asked herself a question that she would’ve never dared to ask out loud, Did Peter Parker just actually pinch my butt?

Finding herself more curious over Peter’s attitude than she was about Sean’s rapid healing, Lori followed him up to Eddie’s cubicle, where the party had broken up. Brock looked around the cubicle, trying to figure out where he could hang a “Welcome to the Bugle” gift that Jameson had dropped off earlier: a framed front page of that day’s paper. As he did so, he heard Peter’s footsteps behind him and turned to see him and Lori standing there. He was both surprised and not surprised to see them. “Good morning,” Brock said chipperly. “Beautiful day.” He tilted his head as if trying to remember some obscure fact. “What was it you said? I’ll never get that picture?” With a satisfied chortle he tapped the framed front page. “There’s your hero.”

Brock stood, trying to figure out what wall area would properly display the picture as Peter shook his head, his voice laced with disappointment. “Huh. I never thought he’d really do that.”

“See, right there, you’ve made a judgment call,” Brock replied. “You’ve got to see it like it is.”

“Funny you should say that, ‘cause I was looking at an old photo of mine, and it sure did look similar.”

Brock froze. Lori was listening with much interest and suspicion.

Eddie tried to laugh it off and didn’t succeed. In a slightly strangled voice he said, “Okay, well…gotta get back to work.”

“You’re trash, Brock.”

Parker’s voice was deep, challenging. It almost cried out for Brock to take a swing at him. There was none of the quavering protest or traces of uncertainty to which Brock had become accustomed. “Excuse me?”

A stunned Lori Thomas watched Peter casually toss a large yellow envelope onto Brock’s desk. Eddie’s eyes went wide when he saw the address printed on the envelope’s upper corner: Empire State University Department of Photography. Lori spotted that address and a grin appeared on her face, as she began to put two and two together.

“The picture’s a fake!” She exclaimed. “Oh, my god! You are trash, Brock!” The loudness of her voice caught the attention of a few employees, most particularly the ones from Woodland Valley, who stood nearby the discussion.

Brock felt as if he were shrinking while Peter was growing in stature. “You bet it is, Lori. He grafted two images together. Digital shots he took at the scene of the crime, and a picture from two years ago that I took, where Spider-Man was picking up bags of money that he’d just gotten back from a bank robber. Except in my picture you could see he was handing them back to the bank president, who was smiling. Eddie here lifted out the Spider-Man image, Photoshopped the black costume, and presto: instant incrimination.”

“Unbelievable.” Lori shook her head in disgust. “I’ve always known you were a poor excuse of a photographer, Eddie. But this…this is a new low…even for you, man.”

Brock had walked into this knowing that Parker might figure it out. He’d gambled that Peter might not remember; it was one of Parker’s oldest photos and hadn’t even been used. It was just sitting around in the Bugle’s morgue with hundreds of other old pictures. Still, it wasn’t as if Brock were unprepared. He’d run through what he might say a number of times, and now he affected the demeanor of an old pal and confidant. “Look, we could all use a little extra spending money every once in a while,” he said in a conspiratorial tone. “I could help you out there.” When Peter didn’t immediately reply, Brock urged him, “You’re such a Boy Scout. Give a guy a break.”

Eddie Brock then got the shock of his life.

The normally mild-mannered Peter Parker grabbed Eddie by his necktie and shoved him hard against the wall. Brock slammed up against it with such force that it dislodged a framed photo of Gwen and sent it clattering to the floor, shattering the glass.

“Oh, no!” Tutter exclaimed, and fearing a violent confrontation on the horizon, he hid behind Bear along with Ojo, Treelo, Pip, and Pop. Bear, in the meantime, just looked on in concern.

Lori at first was enjoying the confrontation between Peter and Eddie, taking pleasure in watching Parker rip a new one to Brock. However, seeing how serious the situation was becoming, she quickly intervened before either of them had done any damage to each other—of course, most of the damage would’ve been done on Brock, considering the amazing strength that Peter’s more than average body possessed.

“Whoa! Hey, hey! Boys! Let’s just chill for a sec, alright? It’s early in the day and we’re all feelin’ a little edgy, which is understandable considering Brock’s stupidity. How ‘bout we just take a break, stop on by Starbuck’s, and grab a latte? Doesn’t that sound good?”

Parker’s face was almost unrecognizable, distorted in cold fury as he seethed, “You want forgiveness, Brock? Get religion!”

Man! I’ve gotta remember that one, Lori thought.

“What’s going on?”

Betty Brant had heard the ruckus and had walked over to see what was happening. She looked in astonishment at Peter, who had never displayed this sort of violent behavior before. “Peter, are you guys okay?”

“Does it look like they’re okay, Betty?” Lori sarcastically remarked.

Feeling his world slipping away from him, Eddie said with a forced chuckle, “We’re fine. Just horsing around.” He tried to push Peter away but couldn’t budge him. Parker may have looked slight, but he had muscles of iron. “Please, please, I’m begging you,” Eddie said in a desperate whisper that only Peter and Lori could hear. “If this gets out, there’s not a paper in town that’ll hire me. I’ll lose everything.”

“You should’ve thought of that earlier.” Peter uttered.

Drawn over by Betty’s concerned inquiry, Robbie Robertson was now standing directly behind her. If Betty and everyone else were surprised at Peter’s display of aggression, Robbie was positively incredulous. “What are you doing, Peter?”

Peter stepped back, releasing his hold on Eddie. Brock sagged, gasping, and Parker picked up the envelope that he’d tossed onto Brock’s desk. Turning away from Brock, he walked past Robertson, slowing only to shove the envelope at him with such force that Robbie was actually staggered half a step. Parker didn’t even bother facing Robertson, but called back to him as he walked away, “Show this to your editor. Tell him to check out his sources.”

Peter disappeared down the hallway. Robbie, Betty, Lori, and the Woodland Valley reporters all watched him go and then, in unison, shifted their gaze back to Eddie. Robertson held up the envelope and said quietly, “You want to tell me what this is about, Eddie?”

“Hey, how should I know?” said Brock, trying to bluff it through. He shrugged. “Dude’s crazy.”

“Is he.”

Without another word, Robertson headed to Jameson’s office. Betty lingered a moment more, barely veiled contempt in her eyes. Then she too walked away, and Eddie Brock glanced at his watch.

“In case you’re wondering, it takes nine minutes to receive The Summons.” Lori told him with that same witty grin on her face that annoyed the heck out of Brock. “Nine minutes before you’re standing in Jameson’s office, with all the strength drained out of your legs.”

Only one word came to mind at Thomas’s enjoyment over his pain: Witch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~​

When Betty Brant was told to summon Eddie Brock to Jonah’s office, she made certain to leave the door open so she, Lori, and the Woodland Valley could see as well as hear everything.

Jonah was on the other side of the desk, holding up the documents that had been in the envelope. There were copies of what looked to be several photos, and what appeared to be a detailed written analysis of the two. Robertson was just putting the phone down, ending a call, and he said to Jameson, “Empire State photographic department confirms it.”

Fixing a gaze of pure disgust upon Brock, Jameson said, “Pack your things. Get out of my building.”

“I was just trying to—”

“YOU’RE FIRED!” Jameson thundered, his voice immediately scaring away the Woodland Valley reporters, who stood close by Betty and Lori to listen in on the torture.

For a split second, Betty and Lori thought that Brock was going to burst into tears. Instead he squared his shoulders and hurried out of the office as quickly as he could. He cast a glance at Betty, as if looking for sympathy—he found none in her eyes. He then looked towards Lori, as if expecting another smart remark—instead, he got that look of sympathy that he was hoping to get from Betty. But Brock could care less about Thomas’s sympathy. She embarrassed him over the past years as much as Peter had over the past minutes. Lori was no better than he was, and it infuriated him just looking at her, even though she was the most beautiful creation of God’s that he had ever laid eyes on. If he ever saw Lori Thomas, her brother, or Peter Parker again, it would be a cold day in h*ll.

As she watched him leave the Bugle forever, Lori couldn’t help but to feel a bit of pity for the poor jerk. Sure he faked a photo, and he had it coming the moment Peter found out about it. But did Peter really have to humiliate him in front of everyone like that? Perhaps in front of just Robbie, Betty, and Jonah…that much would’ve been enough for her to relish the moment. However, the whole staff had watched the scene unfold in what used to be Eddie’s cubicle, and realizing it made her feel a little uneasy.

Oh, well. It was Eddie Brock…he’ll get over it. Right now, there were other matters to tend to, such as Sean’s condition. Without another thought, Lori made her way out of the building, careful not to run into Brock on her way out.

END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN​

 

[The Count]

Hey MW... Just wanted to tell you how masterfully you're thrilling me with each chapter that gets posted. The fight at the Osbornes' townhouse/penthouse was positively gripping, portrayed with all the ferocity such a scene demanded. And then you transition to Pete confident for everything in the world, skipping down the street. Liked the song the EM played outside the theater. But you rully drove things home, or at least started to with what happened at the Daily Bugle. Sean starting to realize his new-found recuperative skills... Peter confronting Eddie about falsifying his photographic assignments... To the very end where Brock was booted from the offices of its austeer publisher. This will hopefully segway perfectly to whenever you decide to add the third trailer.

Hope for more when you can post it.

 

[muppetwriter]

Thanks, Count. That scene from the "third trailer" shouldn't be too far away. In fact, we might possibly be only a few chapters away from the climax of the story.

I'll try to get more in as soon as I can. I have exams in the coming week, so it may be until next weekend when I have the next chapter. I'm hoping to finish "The Spectacular" around the time the actual movie gets released on DVD, which I've heard is on October 30th.

 

[JEANYLASER]

awesome!

 

[muppetwriter]

Chapter Eighteen​

On an average day, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable would be welcoming the time that they would spend at the Bueno Nacho, their favorite restaurant where they regularly meet and eat after school—best known for its Naco and Chimurito. But on the particular afternoon that they met up with Gonzo and Rizzo there for lunch, they were anything but feeling pleasant as they discussed the recent actions of Peter Parker.

Even as Rizzo took a bite out of his Naco, he tried his best to wipe away the visions of Harry Osborn and Rachel Bitterman beaten senselessly by Peter and Jenny. “I tell ya, it’ll be a long time before I ever look at Peter and Jenny da same way again. What Fozzie and I witness in dat penthouse was pure torture.”

Gonzo sighed in disbelief. “I can’t believe Peter would do such a thing to Harry. I mean I realize that he acted pretty insane that night he attacked us in Fozzie’s Studebaker, but not even he deserved getting a bomb in the face.”

“No, but Rachel Bitterman sure did!” Rizzo angrily snapped. “If it weren’t for her, we’d be eatin’ one of Pete’s delicious meals right now, instead of dis slop…which, uh, happens ta be pretty good.”

Ron smiled at the rat’s satisfaction over his meal, which he had recommended to him before entering the restaurant. He and Kim were delighted by the fact that Ned, the assistant manager, allowed him to eat there (a rat in a fast food restaurant was something not to be taken too lightly). Letting him have lunch there was the least they could do after all he had been through, from the destruction of Pete’s Diner to witnessing the brutal fight at Harry’s penthouse.

“Something’s been just plan weird with Peter lately.” Kim came out and said. “Ever since the night he put Shego in the hospital, he hasn’t called us or asked to assist him in his crime fighting. And even when we try without his permission, the crime’s already been averted the moment we get there.”

Ron just scoffed at Kim’s suspicions. “The S-Man’s just buildin’ up a bad boy persona for the ladies, K.P. Ya can’t blame him for reachin’ out to a broader fan base…a more hot and sweet fan base.”

“Ron, I seriously doubt any woman would be into a guy who can shatter another’s in five places!” Kim retorted.

Gonzo nearly choked on his soda after hearing exactly how Spider-Man had put Shego in the hospital. “He did that to her? Man! Something has gotten into him.”

“Yeah, but the question is what? And how do we get it out of him?” Kim curiously asked, even though she really wasn’t expecting a straight answer from Ron, Rizzo, or Gonzo.

Gonzo just shrugged, pondering over the possibilities for this drastic change of Peter Parker’s. As he had done so, he was about to take a bite out of his Chimurito, until…

“Don’t eat me just yet, Gonzo!” the Chimurito exclaimed.

Kim, Rizzo, and Ron all jumped, spitting out either their drinks or their meals in fear of it being alive. Ron clutched onto Kim and began screaming hysterically, catching the attention of nearby patrons, as well as Ned the assistant manager. “The food’s haunted! The food’s haunted! The food’s haunted!”

Kim wanted to just easily tell Ron to calm down and that there was a reasonable explanation for whatever’s causing the Chimurito to talk like it was. But not even she had a clue as to what was coming over that particular food product. It scared her just thinking about the possibilities more than it had Ron and Rizzo. For a second, she glanced at the other meals sitting on their table, realizing that neither of them was talking like the Chimurito had been.

Seeing how calm Gonzo was over the whole thing, Kim figured asking him about it would shed some light on the bizarre situation. “Uh, Gonzo? Is there any reason why your Chimurito is talking?”

Gonzo was about to answer, until the Chimurito turned to Kim and addressed her. “Who is this?” Kim had nearly passed out as it spoke in her direction.

“This is a new friend that I made a while back named Kim Possible.” Gonzo introduced. “And the fella grabbing onto her is her boyfriend, Ron Stoppable.”

“Cute name.” The Chimurito remarked.

Ron smiled. “Uh…thanks.”

“I was talking to Kim.”

Ron frowned and then Kim smiled. “Why, thank you.” She afterwards made an odd expression. “Did I just actually thank a Chimurito?”

“Correction, K.P.” Ron said. “You just thanked a haunted Chimurito.”

“It’s not haunted, Ron.” Gonzo stated. “It’s my alien family, contacting me through my food. They’ve done this several times before.”

Rizzo sighed, feeling like he almost suffered from a massive heart attack. “And I’m still tryin’ ta get used ta it.”

“What’s up this time, Des?” Gonzo asked the Chimurito.

“Des?” Kim reacted in surprise. “You mean this thing has a name?”

“Hard ta believe, isn’t it?” Rizzo inquired.

Gonzo didn’t listen to either Rizzo or Kim and kept his attention solely on the Chimurito (or Des Filmer, the person responsible for the meal coming to life, who was billions of light-years away from where Gonzo was). “Something deadly has come into your world, Gonzo: a dangerous living organism born on the planet Exodia. Somehow a piece of it had snuck aboard our Gonzonian spaceship, when I had landed there last year to rescue you and your friends from Exod as Onzgo confronted him. It wasn’t until early this year when we discovered its presence on our home planet of Gonzonia.”

“What does this living organism look like?” Gonzo inquired.

“Well…to put it in layman terms…it’s a black ooze.” Des replied. “And it’s not just any black ooze…it moves and feels…it can do almost anything that any other living organism can do. But, most of all, it can attach itself to anyone and take over them completely. It had done so with one Gonzonian who began to possess deadly, aggressive characteristics and called himself ‘Venom’.”

That name struck Gonzo like lightning, because he had heard it before. It was when Ed Singer had regained consciousness at the Boarding House and barely recognized Gonzo. But before he did, he muttered in his sleep that name and then the word “symbiote.”

Des continued on with his explanation. “Fortunate for Ambassador Zongo and myself, this wasn’t the first time we encountered this Exodian parasite. Just a few moments after we landed on your planet and meet you for the first time at Cape Doom, this thing had attached itself to a good friend and colleague of mine and nearly wiped out everyone on the ship. We had defeated it with fire, which I had assumed the second time we encountered it was its weakness. But it has other weaknesses as well, such as intense sounds.”

Kim was listened closely as much as Gonzo was to Des. She couldn’t help but to—for some strange reason—think of Peter Parker as she listened to the description of the black ooze that he was referring to. “Uh, Des, is it?”

“Uh-huh.”

“This parasite that you’re talking about. Can it somehow mimic clothing up to and including complete change of appearance and stature?” Gonzo, Ron, and Rizzo seemed highly intrigued by her question, but were slightly confused as to what would bring her to ask it.

“Sure. When this thing took over the Gonzonian that we had successfully saved from it, it imitated every bit of its clothes, from the collar of his shirt to the zipper of his pants.”

“Whoa! Whoa! Way too much info, buddy!” Rizzo exclaimed.

“Sorry.” Des uttered, and while Kim was starting to put some things together in her mind, Filmer concluded his story to the present day. “After we were able to extract this parasite from its Gonzonian host, we contained it in a metallic jar. Your niece and the new Gonzonia ruler, Flanzgo, then sent Ambassador Zongo alone on a mission to get rid of the symbiote, as my old colleague referred to it in his notes. But something must’ve gone wrong on his mission, because we had never anticipated on him crashing to your world and unleashing the symbiote out into your atmosphere.”

Gonzo then sadly muttered, “And I had never anticipated on Zongo losing his memory either.”

“What was that?” Des asked.

“Never mind.” Gonzo remarked.

“You have to find the symbiote, Gonzo.” Des demanded. “If it attaches itself to any of your earthling friends, it could possibly use him or her to wipe out everyone on the face of the planet! It’ll be unstoppable!”

“Especially if it has attached itself to someone with remarkable superhuman strength.” Kim added, just as she finally figured out the problem in her mind.

The Chimurito turned and faced Kim again. “Yeah. If that were to happen, there’d definitely be no way to stop it.”

It didn’t take long for Gonzo to realize whom exactly Kim was talking about when she made her assumption. “That’d explain why Peter’s been acting so differently lately. The symbiote is starting to amplify his characteristics…especially his aggression.”

“Ya mean Spider-Man’s turnin’ wicked?” Rizzo asked, with a hint of fear in his voice.

“Spider-who? What’re you guys talking about?” Des inquired. “Since when do you have human spiders on your planet?”

“Never mind about that, Des.” Gonzo said. “Just know that we’re gonna do whatever we can to stop this symbiote thing…with or without Ed.”

If Des could somehow make a face on that Chimurito, it would be a perplexed one, because that was just how he felt about the last part of Gonzo’s remark. “What makes you say that? And how come you referred to Zongo by his Earth name?”

“Can I just go ahead and eat you, Des? I’m going to need my strength again if I’m gonna be facing off against a deadly Exodian parasite that bound to wipe out all life on the face of the Earth.” Gonzo demanded.

“Uh…sure.” Des said, and after waiting for a few seconds to see if the Chimurito would move again, Gonzo picked it up and brought it up to his mouth. He was about to take a bite, until it moved again and said, “Good luck on your mission.”

“CUT THAT OUT!” Gonzo screamed.

“Okay. Okay. Sheesh.” Des uttered, and seeing the Chimurito fall limp in his hand, Gonzo took a bite out of it, while his friends were staring oddly at him.

“So how come ya didn’t tell yer alien brother about ol’ Ed losin’ his noggin when he crash-landed here?” Rizzo asked.

Gonzo swallowed the part of the Chimurito that he had in his mouth before answering Rizzo’s question. “Because they already have enough to worry about with this symbiote thing running loose on our planet. If they find out that the only representative of their planet has completely forgotten about all that has happened in recent years, they would be certain to panic and lead some all out invasion over Earth, just to kill this living organism.”

“Do you really think your family would be capable of such an drastic action?” Kim asked.

“I know I would.” Gonzo replied, taking another bite out of his Chimurito.

“So what’s our next plan of action?” Ron inquired.

Gonzo swallowed again before talking—he wished that he could’ve enjoyed the Chimurito as he ate it, but between it being something Des Filmer had to use in order to contact him from space and his friends’ constant interruptions, it was rather hard. “We head back to the Boarding House and try to get Ed to help us find the symbiote. He seemed to remember something about it. If he can share with us any recollection—just the slightest bit of info, then we might have a chance against our odds of getting it off Peter.”

“Ya do know dat will be harder dan it sounds.” Rizzo said.

“Yeah,” Gonzo said, taking the last bite out of his Chimurito. “I do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Sean felt like he was completely wasting time sitting in the room that Edward Morbius had checked into at the Happiness Hotel and allowing the foreign biologist to take out a sample of his blood for study. He had ejected the blood into the syringe from the same arm that had gotten burnt days ago. After that, he brought the syringe over to his state-of-the-art microscope and injected a small fragment of Sean’s blood onto the slide that was already positioned underneath the object lens.

While Edward was looking through a special eyepiece that was designed to coincide with his poor eyesight, Sean looked towards his sister and his cousin, who had both joined him and Edward in the examination. He noticed how they were blocking the path to the door, possibly to keep him from getting out, long enough for Edward to give a full analysis.

They don’t need to do all of that to keep me from escaping. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll let this weirdo do whatever he has to do to find out how the heck I am healing so rapidly, just to satisfy Lori. My only question is why the heck does Stanley have to be involved in this. He doesn’t know anything about genetics or tissue regeneration. His presence here is totally irrelevant.

After a long moment of analyzing the image that he was seeing through the ocular lens, Edward moved his eyes away from them, placed his sunglasses back over his eyes, and motioned his head in Sean’s direction. “I’m not sure if I can explain what I just seen. But, as a biologist, I would have to assume that whatever’s going on with Sean is plausible.”

“Just cut the B.S. and tell me what the h*ll is going on with me?” Sean angrily snapped, and not only did his fierce tone surprise Lori, his language did as well. He was usually one to tell her to watch what she said in front of Stanley.

Edward sighed as he gave a straight answer to Sean. “Your DNA seems to be fluxing with that of a reptile.”

Both Sean and Lori gawked at Edward strangely. But since he couldn’t see how baffled they were by his analysis, they only expressed their feelings through the tones in their voices. Lori began by asking, “Are you saying that there’s a mutation occurring in his blood?”

“You’re unbelievable, Morbius! You know that?” Sean exclaimed, getting up from his chair and heading towards the doorway. “You need help, man! Serious help!”

Lori quickly blocked his path to the door again. “He said it was plausible, Sean. That means something must’ve happened that day you went to see Connors and got caught up in his murder plot by Krassman and Holiday.” Until Lori had mentioned that, Sean had forgotten the one part of his encounter at the science building where Holiday had injected some substance into his system that he believed to have been a knockout serum. But he dismissed it as a possible cause for his rapid healing. “What happened in there, Sean?”

“Lori, I told you what happened. Let’s just drop…”

“What happened?”

“LOOK!” Sean bellowed, nearly causing Lori to trip over herself from the intensity in his voice. “I don’t have time to stand here and listen to some comic book hypothesis by some loser scientist! In case you haven’t noticed, we’re missing two friends right now: Jenny and Kermit! No one has any clue where they’re at and why they’re gone! And while they could possibly be in considerable danger, here we are talking about something so retarded, I can’t believe two adults in this room are actually buying into it! I would’ve expected such a reaction from Stanley here!”

Lori sounded very offended as she said, “Oh, so you’re saying that whatever Stanley believes should be taken as a form of mental retardation, is that it?”

“No, but perhaps what you and your boyfriend do should!”

His sister was about to make another retort, until Stanley stepped in the middle of their argument and asked, “Cousin Sean, if you turn into a lizard, can I keep you in a plastic aquarium for safety?”

Lori had been so stressed out over Sean’s condition that just that one little playful question from Stanley eased her tension. She caught herself by surprise a little when she started chuckling, without any hesitation. Edward began laughing himself, pondering over the notion of Sean—as a tiny lizard—being kept inside of a plastic aquarium in Stanley’s room, with Stanley standing nearby and keeping a close eye on him. And even though Stanley had no idea why Lori and Edward were laughing, he smiled over their happy attitude.

“THAT IS NOT FUNNY, YOUNG MAN!”

Then the room instantly fell silent. No more laughs…no more smiling.

“You are going to realize as you get older than not everything is going to be all fun and games, son! Because if you don’t, you might wind up getting your butt handed to you by someone a lot bigger and tougher than me! Do you understand?” Stanley was too frightened to respond, which only made Sean angrier. He reached over and grabbed Stanley’s arms with such heavy force that the small Muppet child began to cry. “I SAID DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?”

Lori was paralyzed. She wanted to grab Sean and pull him away from Stanley, but was too frightened to do so. Never before had she seen him so fierce…so vicious…so angry. She almost felt like crying herself from the sight of him squeezing Stanley’s arms and glaring into his teary eyes. Meanwhile, the blind Edward had no clue what was going on. The intensity of Sean’s voice made him almost scared to move himself.

“I…I-I’m…sorry…Cousin…Sean.”

That was all Sean needed to hear in order to loosen his grip on the child’s shoulders. “Good…Good boy.” After giving what seemed like a rough pat over Stanley’s head, Sean quickly turned away from him and found himself eye-to-eye with his sister, who was staring at him in a mixture of fear and shock. “And as for you…if I hear again about any of this, I will turn you inside out…understand?”

Lori slowly nodded in reply, not wanting to say or do anything that would have her brother losing it completely. And after he shot her with one final glare, he left the room, roughly slamming the door behind him. With him gone, she released the tension that put a hold over her body, allowing herself to fall to her knees and quiver heavily. Nearby, Edward could hear her mumbling timidly. His head then motioned towards his microscope, and he began to wonder just how far this mutation of Sean’s would take him.

While Lori was trembling, Stanley slowly walked over to her and faced her with tears still streaming down from his eyes. “I…I’m sorry, Cousin Lori.”

She looked up at him with her own tears and immediately embraced him. She didn’t care if it made her look like a frightened mother more than a concerned cousin. She just knew it was the right thing for her to do at that moment. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s…okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Late in the evening, Captain Larkin was patrolling the streets with a couple of other police officers in a squad car. It had to be the most stressful week of Larkin’s career, as he was left solving what felt like dozens of crimes that had been committed in the past few days. At first, he believed that the only one he would have to solve was the escape of Flint Marko, Nicky Holiday, Holiday’s henchwomen, and Shego. But then the new evidence of Marko and Holiday being possible suspects of the murder of Benjamin Parker came up, and everything seemed to have gone downhill from there, with cases involving an attack at Harry Osborn’s penthouse, the explosion at both Pete’s Diner and the science building in Empire State University, and then a possible robbery committed by the black-suited Spider-Man (a case that was soon dropped as soon as the news was revealed to have been fabricated).

Larkin could barely remember the last time he got a break from all of the chaos happening in the city. He enjoyed the days when there was only one case to solve on a monthly basis. That way, in between cases, he could just sit at home in his comfortable chair, lay back, and watch a nice football game on television (he had a thing for those players in their uniforms). But those days seemed like a memory compared to the countless hours he had to spend on multiple cases like the ones that he knew were going to pile his paperwork up to the ceiling.

And to make matters worse than they already were, another huge report came over the police radio. “There is an alert of a massive public disturbance occurring down the corner of Hunt and Nelson Street. Reports of a nine-foot alligator rampaging in the street. There have been multiple kills made in the recent hour: ten civilians, eleven officers. Police are ordered to take precaution before confronting the subject.”

“Did he say ‘nine-foot alligator’?” Larkin asked, and the officer sitting in the passenger seat nodded before attempting to respond to the person over the radio. “Hey, hey! What’re you doing?” The officer stopped and looked back at Larkin questionably. “No, no! I’m not getting myself involved in another case! I already have six to handle as it is.”

“But, Captain, we’re only a block away from where the crime is taking place.” The officer driving the car remarked. “We might as well go ahead and take it in.”

Larkin grinned and chuckled. “Not on my watch! You just take another route and leave this problem to Animal Control. Is that understood? I’ve wasted too much time to worry about a…”

CRASH!

The driver instantly lost control of the vehicle, as soon as something dark and purple had crashed through the windshield. Before he could even pressed down on the brake, the car was already stopped by a fire hydrant that it had ran into, as it drove near the sidewalk. With the hydrant detached, a massive geyser of water sprouted out and began raining down on Larkin’s squad car.

While composing themselves after the huge surprise, Larkin and the two officers got a good look at exactly what it was that had crashed through their windshield. It was a battered and bruised Darkwing Duck, who was barely conscious enough to say, “I am the terror that…needs a good ambulance right about now!” Larkin and the officers piled out of the wrecked squad car, and while the officers were tending to the wounded Darkwing, Larkin looked around to see where exactly they were. He noticed a couple of street signs up above, one reading, “Hunt Street”, and the other reading, “Nelson Street.”

Realizing that they crashed exactly where the crime was taking place, Larkin slowly turned around and faced in the direction of the street corner. He then received the greatest shock of his career….

“Good God!”

All throughout the street, there were mangled human bodies laying all over the concrete, some with missing limbs that were scattered over nearby sidewalks. There were more than twenty dead bodies, as the officer over the radio had reported. Larkin had to have counted forty or maybe sixty. All of them trailing blood that would’ve flooded the entire corner, if it had not have drained out into the sewers. It looked as if a war might’ve taken place there. Cars had been flipped over and turned on their sides, some had even burst into flames or crashed into a building.

It wasn’t a war…it was a massacre…an extermination…

…and the thing responsible for it all was still there, standing in the midst of all the chaos: a nine-foot alligator. Only this was no ordinary alligator. From what Larkin could make out, this alligator was standing upright on its own two feet. It had the stature of a typical human being—a physical fact that contradicted its green scaly skin and its razor sharp claws. If this were no ordinary alligator, then it was without some lizard-like humanoid creature, covered with shredded clothing (that might’ve possibly come from one of its victims).

And it was staring directly at Larkin.

“Oh, crap!”

The lizard creature seemed to have instantly responded to Larkin’s fear of seeing him in person, as it unleashed a terrifying roar that echoed throughout the entire street corner and began crawl its way towards him at rapid speed. The officers that had accompanied Larkin quickly took notice of his immediate danger and came to his aid, firing their guns at the creature.

However, by the time they realized that they were useless against its impervious scaly skin, the creature had already took notice of their presence. It abruptly turned its direction away from Larkin and focused it on the two police officers firing at him. As soon as it reached them, the creature began its carnage, biting the head off of one officer before tearing the other one in half.

Their deaths were quick, but very much painful.

Larkin, realizing that he was the only one left standing in that street corner, quickly went for his radio communicator, which was hooked onto his belt. Before he could utter a single word into it, the lizard creature had returned its gaze on him and charged after him. Larkin fell back and landed hard on the blood-soaked concrete, letting out a bloodcurdling scream as the creature towered over him.

While Larkin was having his arms and legs shredded to bits by the lizard monster, neither of the two realized that they had an audience nearby, standing on the rooftop of a nearby building. The audience consisted of Nicky Holiday, Carla, and Darla, who had all looked on to watch Larkin’s horrendous amputation. Only Holiday himself seemed to be the one who enjoyed the disgusting sight, while Carla and Darla were sickened by it, having to turn away before either of them was left vomiting.

My God…what horror we gotten ourselves involved with.

END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN​

 

[The Count]

Indeed... What horrors await unsuspecting spectators in the shadows of the skyscrapers towering over the gotham that is NYC. But at least KP and Gonzo now know what's bugging Peter... Hopefully they'll have a plan on how to accomplish their task, maybe we'll see how they approach the Hawaiian ohana and the Tennisons to make it happen by the next chapter.

Can't wait for mor, post when you can please!

 

[muppetwriter]

Chapter Nineteen​

Inside the kitchen of the Muppet Boarding House, Max Tennyson, Jumba Jookiba, and Ed Singer were the only ones up and working late, while their family and cohorts were sleeping nearby with some half-eaten Chinese food sitting in its cartons around them. Ed seemed very impatient, pacing around the room hastily, while Max and Jumba were glancing at a small sample of the black goo that was currently sitting on a microscope slide.

While staring at it, Jumba said, “Quite a specimen we have here.”

“I’ll say," Max stated as Jumba allowed him to glance at it as well. “Its chemistry is not unlike material found in that chondritic meteorite in the seventies.”

Ed rolled his eyes with a great deal of exasperation. “We are wasting our time here, people! While we’re sitting here and doing excessive research, Spider-Man is somewhere out there, covered from head to toe with that living alien organism! We must find him immediately!"

“Relax, Singer.” Max said, without turning his gaze away from the specimen. “If I know Spider-Man, he’ll discover what exactly this organism is and find a way to remove it from himself.”

Ed couldn’t believe what Max just told him, and it made him somewhat irate. “Relax? RELAX? Have you completely forgotten what that menace did to my men and me? He took us all down with one blow! The more he wears the organism, the stronger he becomes! If we don’t stop him soon, he’ll be totally unstoppable!" The intensity and loudness of his voice began to wake up the others, as they individually opened their eyes, wiped them, and realize that Singer and Max were in the midst of another debate.

“You know, for someone who hasn’t the slightest fear about bringing dangerous alien life forms to Earth, you sure are acting pretty scared right now.” Max remarked. “I wonder if you’re starting to doubt yourself, Singer.”

“Well, you’re wrong, old man!" Ed snapped. “I’m not afraid of anything!"

“No, Ed. Be afraid.” A voice came from behind them, and they all turned to see Gonzo standing in the doorway to the kitchen, while accompanied by Rizzo, Kim, and Ron. “Be very afraid.”

“ALIEN!"

No one—not even Gonzo—seemed taken by surprise over Ed’s reaction to Gonzo’s sudden appearance, mostly because they were anticipating it…and it was getting rather annoying. Once Ed had taken a moment to catch his breath, Rizzo approached and said, “Dat’s startin’ ta become like a runnin’ gag with you, isn’t it?"

“Well, uh, I think he’s getting better at it…Oscar-worthy, in fact.” Rentro commented.

Ignoring the comments made by both Rizzo and Rentro, Gonzo proceeded with his plans. “Listen, Ed…I’m not hiding from you anymore. We know about the symbiote organism that you guys are all searching for, and we’ve come here to help you out.”

Everyone was delighted to hear that Gonzo, Rizzo, Kim, and Ron were offering their services to their huge task…except for, of course, Ed Singer and Agent Ryan. “We don’t need help from you, alien!" Ed exclaimed. “You’ve done enough damage to my career as it is! Thanks to you, General Luft is having me committed, C.O.V.N.E.T. has no more records on me, and I’m left running from idiots like Max Tennysons like some fugitive! You have ruined my life!"

“And you have saved mine!" Gonzo remarked, which brought a puzzled expression to Ed’s face. “Somewhere in that mind of yours, you remember all that we’ve been through last year with Exod and the Exodian threat. You proved yourself to be a marvelous hero in the midst of all that chaos, Zongo. You never once left the side of my brother, my niece, all of Gonzonia, or the Muppets. You stuck with us through thick and thin. That’s what I don’t believe you’d turn away my help right now.”

Singer did have some strange feeling that all of what Gonzo was telling him had actually occurred. Images in his mind began to flash of all the events, from the moments he shared with Princess Flanzgo (including her moment of becoming ruler of Gonzonia) to his encounters with Exod, the vile extraterrestrial that Gonzo spoke of. He then rubbed his bald head, feeling the small lump that had been left there from his sneak attack at the hands of Xaldin…or was it from the crash-landing?

He’s playing with my thoughts! Putting false information in my head, possibly to lead me into another trap that’ll ruin my life further! Well, if he thinks he can use his alien powers to trick me, he has another thing coming!

Ed turned in Max’s direction. “You aren’t seriously thinking of letting this foul alien assist us in our hunt, are you?"

“I trust him more than I could ever with you.” Max remarked.

And it was that one statement by Max Tennyson that made up Ed’s mind. No longer did he want to be associated with a group of people who spent less time taking action and more time on doing unnecessary research and trusting backstabbing aliens. Without saying another word, Ed motioned for his cohorts to gather their equipment and follow him out of the kitchen and the Boarding House itself. Gonzo watched them all leave with a great deal of heartache and disappointment, which was soon eased by the touch of Max Tennyson’s hand on his shoulder.

“Forget him, son. Let him suffer the embarrassment of having his butt handed to him by the same guy for the second time this week.” Max stated, and though Gonzo wanted to contradict and convince him that it was important to save Ed and the rest of the C.O.V.ies from the wrath of the black-suited Spider-Man, it was of the utmost importance to find the amplified web-slinger and get him to remove his new costume. “Just tell us what you four have planned in order to stop this thing from taking over Spider-Man and doing any further harm.”

Gonzo looked over at Rizzo, Kim, and Ron, feeling slightly reluctant to share their details with their friends, because it might mean revealing the secret identity of Spider-Man—something Peter Parker had worked so hard over the years he had spent as Spidey to hide. But if they were going to help him, Gonzo had to bite his tongue and hope that his friends were trustworthy enough to keep it a secret. “Muh-kay, buht yuh gonnuh have tuh promuse us duat…”

“Uh, Gonzo?" Kim uttered. “You don’t really have to bite your tongue.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

A small jazz combo was in the middle of “One O’Clock Jump," an old Count Basie standard, when Sean Thomas and Peter Parker had both guided their dates for the evening, April O’Neil and Gwen Stacy, into the Jazz Room. The place was packed, with customers tapping their feet to the music. Sean started snapping his fingers to the beat, and April imitated him, grinning.

“This was a great idea, Mr. Thomas.” April said.

Sean smiled at his gorgeous date, as she wore a gorgeous green dress that he had personally selected for her earlier that day. In turn, she selected a nice Italian suit for him that was shaded in a dark greenish color, which was from the same clothing store that Peter had picked his flashy new suit for the evening from. “Thanks, April. And, please, call me by my first name. We’re far from a working environment right now.”

“Sure. No problem.” April remarked.

A hostess escorted them to a table. April, now really getting into the music, moved her hips to the beat and was practically dancing to it by the time the hostess seated them. Peter glanced around the club, looking to spot a familiar face. Gwen, unaware of where Peter’s attentions were, noticed a small bowl of pretzels on the table and picked one up and daintily bit off a piece.

Sean took in a deep sigh of relief and said, “Yeah, I could really use a good time right now, with all the stress happening at the Happiness Hotel.”

“What’s been going on?" April asked.

“Oh, nothing to have a heart attack over.” Sean replied. “My sister and her friend, the European biochemist, claimed that I’m mutating into some lizard, because they supposedly found traces of reptilian DNA in my blood.”

April made an odd look as she said in a perplexed tone, “What?"

“Sounds insane, doesn’t it?" Sean inquired, anticipating the perplexity that had come over her. “I would’ve expected more out of a man like Edward Morbius, who claims to have a degree in biology. He’s nothing more than a certified wacko…a mad scientist to be more exact.”

Even though the notion was as mind boggling as that of mutant turtles, April couldn’t help but to feel that there might’ve been something to it. “Well, didn’t you mention something to the police about being knocked unconscious during the fiasco at the science building at Empire State University?"

Sean had shown a bit of hesitation to respond to her question, because he found it so irrelevant to the reason they were at that club. But, just to humor her or maybe himself, he replied by saying, “I was injected with some type of serum that knocks out its subjects. I just thank God that it wasn’t a truth serum…otherwise I’d be telling the word about my pokadotted underwear.” Gwen heard Sean’s comment and chuckled over it with him. April let out a small laugh, but her curiosity quickly began to take over, as she pondered over a possible connection between what happened at the science building and the bizarre hypothesis made by Edward Morbius and Lori Thomas. Meanwhile, Peter had finally found what he was looking for: Mary Jane. She was clear across the way, waiting on another customer.

The band wrapped the Basie number, to strong applause. The pianist stepped away from the piano, heading offstage, perhaps to get a smoke or maybe just hit the bathroom. The trumpet player moved to the microphone and said, “Let’s hear from you, Mary Jane.”

Mary Jane smiled, starting to head toward the bandstand. The band played some traveling music as she made her way through the cluster of tables to the stage. Gwen, Sean, and April all noticed her and were visibly startled. Gwen had then said, “Isn’t that Mary Jane? Your old girlfriend, Peter?"

“I had no idea that she worked here.” Sean said. “Is this what she’s doing, after being released from production of Manhattan Melodies II?"

“The poor girl.” April uttered.

“Yeah. Wild, huh?" said Peter, making it sound like a staggering coincidence.

Sean looked over at him surprisingly, as it dawned upon him that the reason Peter suggested for him to chose this spot for both them and the girls was because of Mary Jane’s presence. Even though the notion should’ve disgusted Sean (because Parker had been sinking to a new low—which was rather bizarre in his character), it actually impressed him, as he believed it would lead on to one entertaining night—something that he definitely needed at that time. He didn’t know why he was craving confrontation so much (he never had before in his whole life, mostly because he despised it), but he felt the need for it right now.

“Would you rather go someplace else, Peter?" Gwen solicitously asked, concerned that the experience might be too painful for him.

“Oh, don’t worry, Gwen.” Sean said, not wanting anything to change the moment to come. “Pete can handle it…can’t ya?"

“Oh, yeah.” He said easily, and then rose and stepped away from the table.

Mary Jane had just gotten to the microphone and was about to announce the name of the song she was to sing when Peter reached the stage and sat at the piano. M.J. was startled to hear the keys sound on the old Steinway, and when she turned and looked to see what was happening, her eyes widened in disbelief. The rest of the musicians were equally taken aback that this stranger from the audience had apparently joined the band. It wasn’t unprecedented, but it usually happened much later in the evening when the audience was a lot more inebriated.

“Peter?” Mary Jane gasped.

Peter spoke into the microphone next to the piano. “I’d like to dedicate this to a special lady out there.” He looked at Mary Jane, paused for dramatic emphasis, and then shifted his gaze to Gwen. “A very special lady.” Then, not giving Mary Jane time to register what had just happened, keeping her emotionally off-balance, he turned to the band and said, “Fellas, just straight eights until the turnaround.”

He started a fast piano riff, gliding into a free-form jazz composition. Thanks to the black costume, it seemed that the piano lessons his aunt had insisted he take had paid off in the long run. Nice. All he needed to be a virtuoso was some confidence, and he certainly had that in spades these days.

The band started picking up his tempo, and Peter nodded approvingly. “Now that’s eighteen karat.” He turned to the audience and grinned. “These guys are really in the pocket.”

Mary Jane was still standing in the spotlight, clearly not knowing what to do, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other like a small child in desperate need of a bathroom. Then the spotlight, much to Peter’s secret glee, moved away from Mary Jane and over to him. The crowd naturally shifted their attention with it, some even adjusting their chairs so that their backs were to Mary Jane.

Gwen leaned towards Sean and whispered to him, “I never put Peter Parker and jazz together.”

“Neither have I.” Sean remarked, enjoying the showboating display that Peter was expressing on the stage.

Parker was feeling at home, playing with such expertise one would have thought he’d been part of the band for years. He nodded to the other guys, “Take it on one time, without me now.”

Without missing a beat, he sprang from the piano bench and leaped onto the dance floor. He shouted to the crowd, like a 1960s hipster, “Now dig on this!"

Throwing all caution aside, he unleashed a flurry of break-dancing steps with a healthy element of both Elvis thrusts and John Travolta disco tossed in, capped by a series of athletic moves that would have seemed possible only for an Olympic-level gymnast…or Spider-Man, of course, but that wouldn’t have occurred to any of them.

In the middle of Peter’s performance, a small group of people had walked in and was immediately captivated by the music and stunt work. These people were Lori Thomas, Edward Morbius, and Stanley Thomas, who had all come there for reasons other than entertainment. They had heard from Pops about Sean’s double-date plans with Peter Parker and didn’t need much info from the elderly Muppet to figure out where exactly they would be. The place was one of the hottest spots in Manhattan, enough to impress even the most gorgeous woman on the face of the earth by taking her there. And that seemed very evident as Lori and Stanley spotted Peter on stage.

Edward couldn’t help but to snap his fingers and tap his foot to the remarkable beat. “Wow. That music sounds wonderful. The band must be led by a pretty interesting musician to play such a masterpiece.”

“Oh, he’s pretty interesting, all right.” Lori remarked. “If you’d like to call Peter Parker a professional musician, that is.”

The look on Edward’s face registered that of awe and fascination, as he continued listening to the music, while Lori and Stanley were left listening and watching some actions displayed by the once mild-mannered Peter Parker that was very much out-of-character.

During a musical break when just the bass and drums were holding down the backbeat, Peter snapped around in an air-guitar move worthy of Chuck Berry and called out, “Now how ‘bout a little o’ that…um-um-um!"

“Say what? The bewildered Lori murmured.

Stanley curiously looked up at her and asked, “Cousin Alissa…how come Mr. Parker’s talking like he’s Black?"

“Probably because he metaphorically is, sweetie.”

“What does ‘metaphorically’ mean?"

“I’ll explain when you’re older.”

The band promptly responded with three similar funky cords. Pushing his luck and his moves beyond all reason, Peter sprang into the air and landed atop the piano bench with a one-handed handstand. As he balanced on the one hand, he reached out with his free hand and worked the keyboard, right on cue.

The musicians looked a little stunned at the gargantuan showboating from their unexpected and, frankly, uninvited new member, but the crowd went nuts. They had never seen anything like it. No one had.

“He’s not bad for a Science major.” April commented. “I bet getting through high school was a real breeze for him.”

“You could say that.” Sean said.

Maintaining his one-handed pose, Peter abruptly switched hands for a low piano part, then changed yet again for a high part. The number built to a crescendo and Peter sprang into the air and landed on the stage in a split, his arms in a V formation. The applause was thunderous. He glanced over at Mary Jane and saw her slink away from the microphone. She descended the stairs but didn’t move far away from them. Instead she just watched Peter with a look of infinite sadness. Well, if she was feeling sorry for him, then her pity was surely misplaced.

Lori looked on with a mixture of interest and concern, as Peter—elated beyond all measure—sprang out onto the dance floor again and swept Gwen out of her chair. Her gaze soon focused afterwards on the two people left sitting by themselves at that same table: Sean and April. While shifting her focus from them to Peter and Gwen, Lori reached into her black leather jacket and pulled out a rolled up newspaper, clutching tightly onto it. She watched Peter dip Gwen low, even though there was no longer any music, with his lips moving toward hers. Then, slowly and deliberately, he looked in Mary Jane’s direction to ensure that she was watching.

“Oh, my god.” Lori uttered.

“What? What’s happening?" Edward asked.

Lori’s shock of what she was seeing could barely allow her to utter a word out to Edward. Nearby, Sean and April were both looking on with a mixed reaction to the scene. Whereas April was appalled that the young man who Sean led her to believe was decent and clean-living was contradicting his character, Sean himself was relishing at the sight of Peter Parker getting his payback towards Mary Jane.

Mary Jane started to sob. Tears were streaming down her face, her mascara running. Peter noticed that the manager had also seen it and was starting to move toward Mary Jane. Good. Maybe he was about to fire her. Wouldn’t that just be the perfect end to the perfect—

“That was for her, wasn’t it.”

Peter looked down at Gwen—she had seen him looking toward Mary Jane. Gwen scowled fiercely, finally catching on. “You son of a…!"

She struggled in his grasp, but he didn’t care. Gwen had served her purpose. Peter released her, and she stumbled away, almost falling, one hand touching the floor and stabilizing her before she tumbled over. She managed to stand, then backed away from Peter, treating him like a stranger. She grabbed her purse off the table and headed toward the exit. But before Gwen did, she headed to Mary Jane. Peter could make out from where he was standing that she said, “I’m so very sorry," to Mary Jane.

Figures. In the end, the women always stick together.

Back at the table, April was looking very disgusted by what she had just witnessed. Trying her best to sound polite, she turned to Sean and said, “Uh, Sean? Is your friend on any medication or something? I mean, he just…I mean, he was being…well…don’t get me wrong, but he was a really big jerk this evening.”

Sean let out a chuckle that would’ve seemed very sarcastic to the most observant human being. “Oh, c’mon, Ape. They’re just kids being kids. It’s all in good fun.”

April couldn’t help but to stare at him in confusion and disgust, wondering why he would even make such a comment. “All in good fun? Mr. Thomas…I mean, Sean…you actually were entertained by that?"

“Sure. It was like watching an Emmy-winning daytime soap opera.” Sean replied. “Why? Weren’t you?"

April was very quick and very sarcastic to say, “Uh…no.”

Sean just shook his head with a grin on his face, while April continued to stare at him as if the man she was with that evening was remotely different from the one she was introduced to days ago. Was it his way of impressing her? Or did he have too much to drink before their date even started? Either way, she figured that it must’ve had something to do with his recent occurrence at ESU.

“Sean!" A sturdy voice came in between the silence that had come over the table. Instantly, Sean knew whom it belonged to, and he took his time looking up to see who it was. And just as he suspected, it was his sister, with Morbius and Stanley right beside her. She held up the newspaper in her left hand for a brief moment and then slammed it down on the table. “Have you read today’s paper?"

He looked down at the newspaper, his grin not once disappearing from his face. Then he looked back up at her and calmly stated, “I can’t say that I have, sis. I don’t often try to read articles that I’m responsible for.”

“You don’t how ironic you sound right now, man.” Lori remarked.

April, who had been listening to her closely, found herself curious enough to reach over and pick up the newspaper, unrolling and spreading it out across the table. Both her and Sean looked down at the front page and nearly jumped in shock at the photo on the cover: the deadly, gigantic, monstrous face of a lizard creature. Above the photo was the headline, which read in huge bold letters, “Lizard Annihilates Entire City Block—Death Toll: 50!" April had almost become sick to her stomach at the photograph, while not only it but also the number of death undoubtedly horrified Sean as well.

However, commonsense quickly began to take over the young reporter, as he realized exactly what his sister and her insane European biochemist friend were trying to pull. “Are you trying to pull an ‘Eddie Brock’ on me, Lori?" She looked at him strangely. “You expect me to buy into this phony newspaper that you photoshopped in order to convince me of your ridiculous claim?"

Lori was about to make a retort, until she was interrupted by the cheery ring tone of April O’Neil’s cell phone. Quickly reaching into her pocket, she pulled it out and answered it. “Hello?" She listened to the voice on the other line for a moment, and with each word that was uttered by the caller, her face began to turn pale. Sean noticed this right away, as she looked over at him with an expression of total fear. “Uh…right, Mr. Thompson…I’ll be right there as soon as possible.” And with that, she hung up her phone and immediately got up from the table, much to Sean’s concern.

“What’s up, April?" He asked.

Her eyes had never left him, as she started to leave. “I…I just have to…my boss wants me to do a report on…uh…” Her eyes darted towards the newspaper sitting on the table. Sean followed her gaze to it and felt an instant chill creep down his spine. Horrifying thoughts began to run through his mind. At first he believed it to be paranoia…but it soon dawned on him that they might be cold hard facts.

Again, he gazed at the headline on the paper, highlighting the words that stuck out the most with his eyes:

Lizard…Annihilates…Death…50!

Horrifying himself further by the image of the dreadful lizard creature, he looked away from the paper and glanced in the direction of where April was standing…she had disappeared. Obviously she left to cover the story that she believed he had a strong, shocking connection to. All that they had been through that evening seemed to have led to that upsetting revelation. He felt like a complete fool for neglecting it all. He knew that something was wrong from the moment he lashed out at Stanley the way he did.

Stanley…

What type of role model had he set himself up as for his little cousin with those horrible mood swings of his?

Sean looked in his direction and could detect the fear that was in him, not just by gazing at the startled look on his face as he stared into his eyes. It scared Sean himself knowing how he acted towards Stanley over the harmless joke that he made, because he would never treat him in such a way…especially over something as small as that. And, to be honest, he could’ve used some good humor at that minute.

But not even an old Muppet-style joke could remove the terror that had come over him.

“Sean, listen," Lori said, trying to hold back tears that she felt were on the verge of pouring out from her eyes, “Edward believes that what might’ve caused your transformation was severe stress, which we totally take the blame for putting on you before it happened. We can prevent any further ones from happening by developing a special cure from the sample of your blood that we took. All we need is to…”

Whether or not Sean was listening to a word she was saying didn’t seem to matter much longer, as he had quickly removed himself from the table and made his way for the exit. Realizing how overwhelming this all had become to him, Lori chased after him, with Stanley and Edward (who he was guiding by the hand) following.

Upon their drastic exit, another group of people entered, a lot larger than the one that had just left. This time, Gonzo arrived with Rizzo, the Tennysons, Kim, Ron, and the family from Hawaii. He and Rizzo spotted the familiar faces of Sean, Lori, and Stanley as they had departed and were slightly puzzled of why they were exiting so hastily.

However, they didn’t have time to wonder why they had been there and why they were leaving in such a hurry, because—like Lori, Stanley, and Edward—they had come to the club for more important reasons than just good old fun. They all came there because of Peter Parker, who they realized was there not from any special technology, but from a hunch Gonzo had. The weirdo thought of it as a possible telepathic connection he had to alien organism, mainly from its Exodian origin.

It didn’t take very long for them to search for Parker, as he was in plain sight, nose to nose with the manager. They weren’t certain why he was, only that the situation didn’t look very good at all. “Hey, you’re making trouble," the manager snapped at Peter. “What’re you doing?" He glanced toward Mary Jane and said, “You know this guy?"

Royally angered that this gnat was trying to shove himself into his affairs, Peter demanded, “You got a problem?"

A large, burly guy with a thick neck and a jacket that barely closed over his chest now stepped into view. Of course, here comes the bouncer. “Paul, everything okay here?"

He spoke with a thick Brooklyn accent, so Peter mimicked him. “Yeah, Paul, ever’ting okay heah?"

The bouncer didn’t wait for the manager’s okay. He grabbed Peter by the arm and said, “Let’s go, pal.”

“Where are we going? I like it here!"

“Let’s just step over—”

Peter grabbed the bouncer’s arm, twisted it, and flipped the larger man up and onto the floor. Both the crowd and Gonzo’s group gasped as one. What had begun as simple entertainment was rapidly devolving into anarchy. The manager, no slouch himself in the strength and speed department, tried to put a chokehold on Peter while the bouncing bouncer distracted Peter.

An instant before Peter attended to him, Mary Jane—knowing what the men were up against, and knowing they had no chance—cried out, “Peter! Stop!”

“I’m just getting started.” Peter laughed. This time he didn’t even bother with the pretext of a judo throw. He simply picked the manager up and chucked him across several tables. The customers at those tables tried to intercept the manager in his flight and wound up going down with him in a tumble of arms and legs.

After watching how the manager and the customers went down, Kim couldn’t take standing by and doing nothing. “I’ve had enough of this! I’m going to knock some sense into him!"

Even before she could make her way towards Peter, Ron was very quick to react, reaching over and holding her back from the melee that had broken out. “No, K.P.! In the state of mind he’s in, he’ll tear you to shreds in seconds!"

“He’s right.” Max said. “With strength like his, especially from that black costume, none of us can stop him.”

Ben had already started winding up the Omnitrix, as soon as the chaos had been unleashed in the Jazz Room. “Maybe no one except for Forearms!" And just as he was about to press down on it, Max quickly snatched his arm and held it back, long enough to give him warning.

“No, Ben. We can’t risk making things more alarming than they already are with the appearance of a ten-foot alien in the midst.”

“Egah booh chiba?" Stitch uttered in a language that only Lilo or the rest of their ohana could be able to interpret.

“No, 626. The strength of alien organism surpasses even your own.” Jumba stated. “Man-Spider will shred you like paper in seconds.”

Gonzo couldn’t believe how all of their greatest heroes couldn’t stand a chance against the black-suited Spider-Man. It almost made him wonder if they would be able to get him to remove that dangerous symbiote from him. “Well, we have to do something, guys.”

“Yeah," Rizzo agreed, “He’s tearin’ all dose guys apart.”

They watched as customers, probably assuming that Peter was on something, came at him from all sides, trying to wrestle him to the floor. No one even came close to stopping him. Peter was completely out of control, and he didn’t care. He had willingly tossed self-control away, surrendered to the sheer joy. And he wasn’t just taking joy in the battle; he was wallowing in his superiority. He loved it that no one had a chance against him. It was one lone guy against everybody in the place, and he was mopping up the floor with them.

Peter threw two people in either direction and turned just in time to see Mary Jane coming straight at him. She was in no way trying to attack him. Instead she was crying out to him, begging him to stop, to put the people down, what was he trying to prove, had he lost his mind, and on and on…

Without hesitation, without even a thought, Peter grabbed Mary Jane and threw her across a table. She skidded across it, kept going, and landed on her back on the floor.

Everything stopped.

Mary Jane approached Peter, completely torn up inside. She knew she had this coming as a result of her unceremoniously dumping him in the park. She had no choice: Harry and his aunt had made her do it. Harry, who had lost his mind. He had transformed into something horrifying, possibly because of his heartless aunt, and forced her to break it off with Peter.

She was terrified to try to tell Peter the truth, for Harry, as this New Goblin, had warned her that he would be watching her every moment of every day. That wasn’t possible, but she wasn’t about to test him on it. But now things had gotten out of hand. Peter needed to be dragged somewhere private and talked to, no matter what the risk. He’d understand. He had to.

At no time as she advanced on Peter did she believe that he would hurt her. Not for a second. The shock barely registered when Peter cavalierly tossed her aside like a sack of wheat. As she lay on the floor, unmoving, silence descended over the club. Until now, Peter had been dispatching burly men without a second thought. But when he started tossing women half his size around, that apparently crossed a line. Peter looked down at her, his own expression as incredulous as hers.

“What’s happened to you?" she whispered. Her face was covered with dried tears, but she wasn’t crying anymore. She was too caught up in trying to comprehend what was going on.

Slowly Peter shook his head. He looked like someone waking from a dream. “I….don’t know….”

“It’s the suit, Peter.” A voice said from behind him, and he immediately turned to face Gonzo, who had stepped out from his group to approach Peter. “It is turning you into something that you’re not…taking you over. And you have to get it off.” Peter wasn’t certain how Gonzo had found him there or how he knew so much about the costume, but if there was one thing he knew about the weirdo, it was how unpredictable he was. And even that uncanny wit of his seemed to have been on the money at that moment.

Peter looked down—yes, the top of his shirt was open and his black costume was peeping through, long enough for both Gonzo and Mary Jane to get a glimpse. It was enough for the two to conclude that he was acting nothing like himself, and that behavior was traceable almost to the day that he had started wearing the black costume. Peter Parker wasn’t actually wearing the costume.

It was wearing him.

“Let us help you out, son.” Max told him, with full realization of who he really was. “We know all about this symbiote that’s attached to you, and we can help you get it off.”

Peter just shook his head at this stranger who he had never met before, but could only assume was a new friend of Gonzo and Rizzo’s. “I don’t think anybody can help me now…not even myself.” He then quickly covered the top of his costume and turned toward the exit. The crowd of people parted like the Red Sea before Moses.

“C’mon! We still have to do what we can for him!" Gonzo exclaimed, before following Peter out of the club with his group.

And Mary Jane did something she hadn’t done in a long time.

Dear God…hear my prayer…help him…help him and bring him back to me…please.

END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN​

 

[The Count]

You know... If there's one part of this chapter I rully liked... It was the joke about Peter being metaforically black. Nice.
This shows good versatility out of you buddy... Mixing in a probable deleted scene or new scene taking place at the Dubonnet Club from TGMC and inserting it here in this wondrous tale. So the two groups departed the jazz club... Kinda know where this is leading, Chapter 20 might hold that blacky inkling you gave us waaaay back at the beginning... And I'm anticipating it being posted as soon as you can to make this even more marvlous an experience.

 

[muppetwriter]

Chapter Twenty​

Still wearing the black costume, Peter sat in the bell tower, looking off toward the horizon, where the sun was beginning to creep up, even though the sky was thick with clouds and rain was coming down. The sun wasn’t having much success in making its presence known. Peter’s fancy Italian suit was piled in a heap on the side.

He had no idea what to do. He kept replaying the image of his swatting aside Mary Jane, and it was like having ice-cold water repeatedly dousing him in the face.

A huge church bell hung above him. It was three times his size, but he wasn’t really paying attention to it. He was caught up in his inner torment, oblivious not only to its presence, but to the timing mechanism nearby that was ticking down toward the moment when it would set the gears into motion and send the bell ringing.

A part of him was urging him to forget everything that had happened. Find a way to make it up to Mary Jane if he had to, but not to dwell on it. Even as he thought that, though, he knew it would be impossible. Not only had too much happened, too much more could still happen. Just in wearing the costume for a couple of days, he felt as if he was losing touch with his soul. What in God’s name would happen a couple of weeks or months from now? Would he even be recognizable as himself? What would he become?

He couldn’t chance finding out.

Peter stood and started pulling on the suit, figuring that he would be able to peel it off as easily as he had the last time.

Wrong.

Perhaps sensing that matters had reached a crisis point, the suit refused to yield. Peter pulled at it harder, using the full power of the amazing adhesive abilities that lay in his fingertips. Nothing. The suit stretched like Silly Putty, then snapped right back. He started digging into it with his nails, pulling as hard as he could.

Oh my God…get off me…get off me…get off me!

The alien symbiote didn’t speak back to him, not possessing that power of communication. He sensed a deep-seated feeling permeating him, a feeling originating not from him but from the suit. If he’d had to find words to express the emotions that the costume was projecting, it would have been…

Make me.

As Peter began to stagger all about, he noticed from the corner of his eye how there were people entering the bell tower. And just as he had expected, it was Gonzo, Rizzo, and their friends. The two Muppets expressed looks on determination on their faces, as they all looked down upon him.

“We’re not giving up on you, Peter.” Gonzo uttered. “There is a way to get that thing off you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Sean could barely compose himself as he walked into the church with Lori, as she was guiding Edward by the arm. Stanley wasn’t too far behind them, staring upwards at the great interior of the church, which him feel smaller than he already was. He then look to his cousins and his recently newest friend, Edward, and realized that they even looked tiny compared to the gigantic basilica. The small Muppet child sat down at one of the pews near the back of the room, where Sean sat as well.

“Lori, I…I…” Sean looked up at her with reddened eyes from the hours that he spent crying and thinking of all that he had done for those days he spent, killing and terrorizing. “Thank you for bringing me here. I don’t know if God will forgive me for what I’ve done, but…I…”

“Shhh.” Lori gently placed a finger over Sean’s mouth, silencing him long enough to allow herself to speak. “Don’t talk. Just pray. I’m sure He’ll forgive. He always does.” Sean nodded in acknowledgement before lowering his head and settling his hands down over the pew in front of him. Lori focused on Stanley, who just watched his cousin look extremely guilty and seemed very scared, not knowing exactly why he felt that way. “Stanley, sweetie…keep an eye on him, while we head back to the Hotel.”

“Will Cousin Sean be alright?” Stanley asked, and before answering, Lori looked to Edward, who had a look on his face that was very doubtful. If she could only see past those dark sunglasses of his and have some clue as to what he was thinking that moment, she could give Stanley a straight answer.

“I don’t know, baby.” She said. “Just pray along with him, OK?” Stanley nodded before lowering his own head and crossing his arms. Lori smiled at the way he prayed, knowing that he had a lot of faith in him. It was enough to give her hope for her brother’s condition.

“Come on, Alissa. We must hurry.” Edward said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She placed her hand over his, fighting back the tears and fearful thoughts running through her mind. Afterwards they both headed out, leaving Sean and Stanley to pray for forgiveness and hope.

Sonorous organ music crept through the church as Eddie Brock Jr. entered the basilica and slowly walked down the aisle. He glanced in the direction of the actual organ, and it sat there, silent. But the music was coming from somewhere. Probably a sexton or someone like that playing recorded music. It was unbearably creepy and added a foreboding Gothic flavor to the chapel.

Feeling sad, lonely, and pathetic, he took a seat and stared at the image of Christ on the cross. A man with good intentions who’d been crucified for his troubles. Eddie Brock could relate.

“Eddie Brock, sir,” he introduced himself. “I’ve been wronged, and the woman I worship will have none of me. I don’t qualify as the perfect boyfriend, but…who does?”

Jesus didn’t answer. That was okay. What could he really have said? Eddie didn’t mind this being a one-way conversation. “I ask you, why do I have to suffer for everyone else’s imperfections? Why can’t I ever have what I want? What about me?” He thumped his chest. “What about Eddie? I try to do what’s right. I follow your rules. I obey the ‘thou shalt nots.’ I’m a decent person.” He raised his voice to get it above the organ music, which seemed to be getting louder. “I’m a decent person!” The loudness of his voice captured Stanley’s attention, as the small Muppet child lifted his head to look up at him, recognizing him instantly from his most recent trip to The Daily Bugle.

Eddie frightened himself with his vehemence and the intensity of his emotions. He didn’t understand why it had come to this. Why no one else in the world was able to see him the way that he saw himself. Never for a moment did he consider that he had brought his problems upon himself. Instead they had been forced upon him by a world that judged him and found him wanting without ever truly comprehending him.

“So I come to you today, humbled and humiliated, to ask of you but one thing.” He clasped his hands together so hard that he felt them going numb, but he didn’t care. Tears were starting to stream down his face, but he didn’t care about that either. Nor did he care about the voices of a choir—also recorded—that joined the organ music and got louder and louder, like a chorus of demented angels urging him onward, ever onward. His body trembling, praying harder than he ever had before, he begged for the only thing that would give his life any meaning…

“I want you to kill Peter Parker.”

Stanley couldn’t believe the request that Brock had made to the Lord, and it had even scared him knowing that it might happen to someone whom he had become good friends with. He immediately lowered his head and prayed for God to refuse Brock’s plea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Back in the bell tower, Gonzo and Rizzo watched patiently with Kim, Ron, the Tennysons, Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, Pleakley, and Nani as Peter commenced in what seemed like his umpteenth attempt to remove the symbiote from his body. He started with the section of the costume that covered his neck and began pulling on the fabric. However, the suit was fighting back, stretching itself immensely as Peter tugged. It won the fight, snapping back in place and leaving Peter to become even more determined to take it off. He stood on his feet and began tearing away at the front part of his mask, which seemed just as hard to remove as the other section of his costume.

“Come on, Peter! You can do it!” Gonzo exclaimed.

“I…can’t…” Peter stumbled all across the room, tugging away at his mask, and in the process, he bumped against the bell.

BONG!

The bell clanged above them, deafening, and apparently it seemed to jolt the suit’s concentration. Just as the symbiote was irritated from the sound, it had also done the same for everyone around Peter, as they were forced to cover their ears, reacting in pain. Peter felt it loosening slightly, felt its influence upon him starting to diminish. He screeched along with the black substance, echoing throughout the entire church.

The sounds of the bell and the screams caught the attention of Eddie Brock, Stanley, and Sean back in the basilica, as they all were distracted from their prayers, looking up towards the ceiling curiously. While Eddie stood up from his pew and looked towards a nearby door, Stanley and Sean were busy trying to figure out what the sound that accompanied the bell.

“What was that, Cousin Sean?” Stanley asked, while Sean’s mind seemed to have been robbed of the horrible things that he had been feeling for some time, long enough for his attention to be focused on what was happening in that church.

“I don’t know.” He replied, looking at the ceiling for a little while longer, before focusing on Stanley. “You stay right here. I’ll be back.” Stanley did what he was told and sat right at the back pew, while Sean stepped out and walked into the nearest hallway, just as there was another scream and another loud ring from the bell.

In the bell tower, the group continued to watch, as Peter was successful in getting large potions of the costume off his face and head. The substance was still clinging to that part of his body, stretching to great lengths and reforming desperately back over his neck and chin. Peter screamed even louder than before, equally as desperate to remove the symbiote from his skin as it was to stay on it.

That’s when Gonzo suddenly remembered what Des Filmer had told him back at the Bueno Nacho…about the symbiote’s weaknesses, such as intense sound. As his eyes went to the bells, he said, “The bells are the only thing that’s weakening it!”

Kim looked to them as well, remembering the exact same thing Gonzo had. “That’s right! Intense noises! It’s his weakness!”

Heeding this new information given to him by Gonzo and Kim, Max suggested, “Then we have to keep them ringing.”

“Argh! Do we have to, Grandpa?” Ben painfully asked, still covering his ears. “I think I’m getting a migraine!”

“Do you even know what a migraine is?” Gwen asked him, while Stitch did as Max had suggested and leaped onto the largest bell he could find, madly swinging on it and unleashing an incredible ringing noise that forced everyone, except for Peter, to head towards the stairs.

“MEEGA CHUCKA!” Stitch yelled.

It was as if Peter were peeling his own skin from his body. This was worse, far worse than that previous time. Both he and the symbiote were struggling for their lives, and no prisoners were being taken.

Between the clanging of the bells and the agony that was ripping through Peter’s head, it was all he could do not to pass out. But that wasn’t an option; if he did, he knew the symbiote would reassert itself, and next time he might never get it off him. He continued to peel it away, bit-by-bit, feeling as if he was starting to get some momentum, and so kept at it with growing determination. At one point, when his will started to flag, he mentally pictured Mary Jane being sent tumbling over a table by his hand—by its hand—and he increased his efforts.

“It’s working! It’s working!” Gonzo screamed through the pain in his ears.

“Good! ‘Cause I’m dyin’ over here!” Rizzo yelled.

I’ve got you now, you piece of crap, Peter thought grimly, not noticing that the black goo was starting to slip through a crack in the flooring.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Stanley’s curiosity began to get the best of him, and he leaped off the pew, running down the aisle and heading through the same door that Eddie had gone through. When he had come across a large, circular room, he spotted Eddie standing in the center of it and looking upwards to the bell tower, which was situated above the front doors. The bell was clattering away high above them, and suddenly something fell on Brock’s shoulder with a thick splat.

Great. Pigeons are crapping on me. Thanks for answering the prayer, God.

He reached up to brush it off and saw that it wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen. At first glance it was akin to tar, but when he reached for it, it seeped into his shirt without a trace. He twisted around, thinking that maybe it had fallen to the floor, but no. Nothing there. Then another drop landed on his other sleeve. This time he never took his eyes off it as, once again, it soaked into his shirt and vanished.

What the h*ll?

Both he and Stanley glanced upward, and there, high above, was the unmistakable form of Spider-Man. He was trying to peel his black costume off, and the darned thing was…leaking? No, it was oozing off him as if it was…alive…

Eddie Brock watched in fascination as a drop landed on his hand and then seeped into his skin. He staggered, his mind whirling with thoughts that were simultaneously his own, yet seemed to be coming from somewhere else, as if his own thoughts were magnified and heightened. It was like mainlining a particularly potent narcotic.

He wanted more…much more.

A drop descended from on high, straight toward his face. He opened his mouth and caught it on his tongue, like a snowflake, and swallowed it. It burned pleasantly, like a fine wine.

The shadows around him seemed larger, darker. He kind of liked it.

Spider-Man was screaming overhead. What a wuss. What a little pansy. He clearly wasn’t man enough to take what this…this whatever it was…had to give.

Eddie raised his arms over his head and started screaming in sync with Spider-Man, making fun of him and scaring his audience—which came in the form of Stanley Thomas—who he barely even noticed. But where Spider-Man’s stemmed from fear and pain, Eddie’s was a primal scream of fury against all the raw deals that the world had heaped upon his shoulders. He owed the world for all of that, and this was where he started dealing out the payback.

And Brock’s scream was changing as it continued. It was getting deeper with every passing moment, as more of the black goo poured down upon him, until his voice no longer sounded human.

Instead it could have been a beast growling: a lion bellowing a challenge, or even a dinosaur from a primeval era unleashing a deafening roar designed to freeze its prey in its tracks.

Stanley stood and watched in terror, as the large amounts of the black substance covered every inch of Eddie Brock’s body. Pools of the symbiote surrounded his blackened body, while he was on his hands and knees. Soon the substance was up to his head, and he tilted it back, directing his eyes toward a frightened Stanley.

“M-M-Mr. Brock?” Stanley looked into his eyes, seeing how Brock’s pupils were turning ghostly white. He then looked at his teeth, which were becoming jagged and sharp as a knife. Eddie lowered his head again, and after he brought it back up, Stanley found himself staring at the face of a true demon that unleashed a terrifying screech as he lunged at the small, screaming Muppet child.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Gonzo and his friends watched Peter collapse, sagging to the floor, his head whirling, the world spinning. It was gone. The creature was gone. Neither of them knew where it had vanished to and, right now, couldn’t bring themselves to care. Peter was more exhausted than he could ever remember, and he knew that if he allowed himself to rest for even a few moments, he would pass out…but unfortunately for him, that was exactly what he had done.

Max quickly went to Peter’s unconscious body and checked on him. He pressed two fingers against his throat. There was still a pulse. Thank God! Even if the symbiote had escaped from their sights, at least its former host was still amongst the living. The bells had mercifully stopped ringing, but everyone could still hear them clanging away between their ears. They each hoped that no permanent damage was caused to their hearing.

Only one thing clarified whether there was or not…

“Stanley? NO!”

They heard loud and clear the sound of a man screaming in agony downstairs. And with their curiosity and concern quickly taking over, they all started to head downstairs. But as they were moving, the screaming started to turn into inhuman growling. Their pace slowed down immediately.

“What the heck…?” Gonzo exclaimed in reaction to the horrifying growl, which was soon followed by a loud crashing noise accompanied by a slight tremor that nearly knocked them off the staircase.

More determined than ever to find out what was causing all of the commotion, the group picked up the pace again, continuing down the stairs. As soon as they had arrived near the front doors, they discovered how they had both been shredded to pieces, along with parts of the stone-hardened walls that had surrounded it.

Nani looked on in shock at the massive chunks of wood and stone that were laying all over the steps leading up to the church entrance. “Did…did that thing make this mess?”

Gonzo surveyed the destruction closer, trying to pick up whatever scent he could find to help give any reasonable clarification for Nani. Finally, after a brief moment, he made his conclusion. “This wasn’t the symbiote. This was the work of something more…monstrous.”

Hearing Gonzo’s statement, the others felt a chill down their spines, wondering just what could be more monstrous than what they had faced only mere seconds ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

During their taxicab ride back to the Happiness Hotel, neither Lori nor Edward could stop thinking about Sean and the horrible strain that must’ve been going through his mind, as he thought over and over again about that headline in the newspaper. They wished that they hadn’t shown it to him, knowing the trauma that would consume him from seeing it. But it was all that they had left to convince him of the truth.

And the truth seemed to have been spreading out to any other disbelievers, especially the driver of their taxicab, as he had suddenly pressed down hard on the brakes. The abrupt halt caused Lori and Edward to shoot forward and violently smack their heads against the plated glass that separated them from the front seat.

As soon as she was able to relieve herself from the blow, Lori angrily turned to the driver and said, “Hey, man! What the h*ll is…?” Before she could even finish her rant, something in front of them instantly caught her attention.

Through the drenched windshield of the taxicab, Lori saw just what caused the cab driver’s immediate stop: the same lizard creature that had been making news for days now. The same one that she had led everyone to believe was her own brother…and it was him. She knew that for a fact from the shredded Italian suit that covered its massive frame, which was the same one that Sean had been wearing for the entire evening.

“Oh, God!”

Rubbing his bruised forehead, Edward motioned his head in her direction and said, “What’s going on?”

Unlike other times when he would ask that due to his lack of vision on the things that were suddenly occurring, Lori did not have the time to stop and tell him what she was seeing. Instead, she climbed out of the taxicab and into the rainy atmosphere. She didn’t care how much she was getting wet, as she stared directly into the eyes of the huge, reptilian monster that had backed up traffic from miles.

The monster didn’t stay long to chat with Lori—if it could even be capable of communication. It immediately headed out of the street and crawled its way into a dark alleyway, which Lori had followed him into, not even realizing that she had done so while she was doing it.

She chased after the monster deep into the darkness of the alleyway, until…

THUMP!

Something hard, slimy, and wet slammed into her and caused her to fall back into a puddle that had formed on the muddy, trashy concrete. An average brick wall couldn’t have knocked her flat on her butt like that. Brick walls don’t feel like scales that have a slight cushy sensation to them. And brick walls don’t growl at people as soon as they had bumped into them.

Lori slowly looked up through the drops of rain that were falling around her eyes to see something that towered over her like the Empire State Building itself. Only this building had horrid yellow eyes that were glaring down at her and grinning with razor sharp teeth from its huge, scaly, protruding mouth. She should’ve been imitated…no…frightened by what she was seeing in front of her. But something in her made her courageous enough to stand up and actually address the creature like a normal human being.

“I know you can hear me…Sean.”

The lizard monster only slightly titled its head, signifying that he could understand exactly what Lori was saying. Its mouth began to move, and in a strong attempt to make communication, it growled these words, “Who…are…you?”

Before she could even try to understand why exactly he couldn’t remember who she was (even in his reptilian form), Lori’s concentration on him was suddenly disrupted by the shocking arrival of a third party. It came from up above, landing hard on top of a nearby dumpster with an loud, echoing thud. Lori could barely believe her eyes as she realized what it was…

Another lizard creature?

It was highly different from the one Sean had become. Whereas Sean’s lizard form was of a darker skin tone and wore his shredded Italian suit, this other one was lighter and had shreds of what appeared to have been a lab coat with the word “Prof” emblazoned on the back of it. That one clue was what told Lori who exactly the other lizard creature was.

“Krassman!”

Without saying another word or making another gesture, Lori immediately ran out of the alleyway, leaving the two monsters to stand in the darkness, facing each other. As Sean faced Krassman, the scientist-turned-monster growled a response to his recent question, “She is the enemy!”

Sean then remarked with a confused growl, “The…enemy?”

“Let me explain everything to you…and try not to get too upset…brother.”

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY​

 

[The Count]

Oh Sean! You hit me with something new each time I read...
Krassman's a "Lizard" too? Man, you must be getting some of your ideas from the animated series indeed, the classic 90's version that aired on Fox. This reminds me of the last episode where Kurt Connors turned into the Lizard, with the subspecies of lizard humanoids living in the sewers... Where M.J., Kurt's wife, and Debrah Whitman had to come and save the day with a neogenic bomb keyed to the lizardian DNA.

As for the first part of this chapter... The glorious third trailer!
Sean turned into theLizard to protect Stanley from the true form of Venom... So what happened to the Muppet child?

And I must indeed congratulate you on reaching Chapter 20, a new Marvlous Muppets milestone.
Ah... The ringing and the jingling of the bells.
*Edgar Alan Poe reference.
*Sings:
Here is a riddle for you to solve if you can, sing the bells of Notre Dame.
Who is a monster and who is a man, sing the bells of Notre Dame.

So appropriate that this part of the story take place in one of NYC's cathedrals... Both Peter, Sean, and Eddie in a sense are seriously soul-searching at the moment... And for the briefest of moments, all three lives touched each other in monstrous metamorphases. It's all so thrilling, knowing there are still some transformations yet to come, and I look forward to it all as soon as you can post it.

So post it...
*Sings again.
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bels, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells of Notre Dame!