THE BEST KIND- The Amazing Spider-Man

27.

Surprisingly, Liam had found some time to accompany Peter to his after-school meeting with Dr. Conners, curious to check on the results of their research and maybe get some tips on how to find the giant lizard that was still haunting the boys' thoughts.

But when they entered the lab, Conners was nowhere to be found. "Strange," Peter commented while looking around.
" Hello? " No answer. In the entire lab, every single room was empty. No, Dr. No Gwen. Not a single person in a lab coat walked around. Peter's gaze roamed the room, taking in the books covering every single surface, including the Round conference table. Something caught his eye and when he got closer, he could make out the mechanic syringe they used for animal testing.
The dose in it had been emptied, but it was not the one he used on the lab rat. He turned at Liam, who had been observing his bewilderment and he could read from his face that the boy was equally concerned. Something was off. There was no test scheduled for as long as Fred the mouse was cleared. Liam opened his mouth but closed it immediately to put on a charming smile, looking right behind Peter.
"It's not nice to snoop," the voice of Dr. Conners spoke up and Peter gasp in shock as he turned to look at the man rather meekly.
"I gave everyone the week off," the doctor added, looking at Liam directly. Something in his gaze deeply disturbed Peter, but he could not place his finger on why. It was just an unsettling feeling.
"Shouldn't you two be in school?"
"No, we got a free track, remember? I asked you to reschedule our meetings and here I am. I... I wanted to ask you a question."
Dr. Conner walked over to a blackboard, cleaning it off the doodles of ideas they had made last week, while Peter leaned against the table, his boyfriend taking a stand behind him in support.
" How would a predator track a reptile?" He could feel Liam's hand sneak to his waist from behind, a gesture to tell him to be careful.
They had talked about what and how to ask to protect Spider-Man's identity and Peter had dismissed every single agreement with that single question just because his guts told him to.

"Oh, they don't," Conners answered as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Most reptiles are at the top of their respective food chain, king of their domain." Liam's fingers now dug through his sweater and Peter could feel his gaze on the side of his face telling him the boy was just as suspicious about that tone.
"They got to have vulnerabilities." Peter shrugged, trying to make himself sound just asking out of innocence.
"Why the sudden interest in the cold-blooded?" Conners answers sharply as he turned to look at the two boys.
Peter held his gaze, gently shaking his head in the way Liam always called adorable while innocently widening his eyes.
"Just asking a question." 
"We got a biology profile to do, so we thought we might as well ask an expert on the topic," Liam spoke up, his hand long gone from Peter's waist and he was a better actor than his boyfriend would ever be, everything from his tone to the kind glimmer in his green eyes coming across as genuine.
He had rounded the table as well, now lazily leaning next to Peter, making himself smaller to be less intimidating while looking at the Doctor with interest. If he didn't know him that well and loved him so much, Peter would be frighted of how well the boy knew how to position himself.  Doctor Conners seemed to believe him as his gaze became a lot less sharp.
"Oh?"  Peter nodded again.
"So because of the cold blood, would they react to sudden changes in temperatures?" Conners's eyes glossed in a manic scene.
"You'd have to catch one first. Did you know there's a rumor of a new species in New York? Beautiful and quite large."
"You don't say. What do you know about it?" Liam asked, leaning in.
"You seen it?" Peter added, straightening himself.
"No, it's not yet classified. But it can be aggressive if threatened." Conners held Peter's gaze and a shiver run down the boy's spine.
That had been the last piece of information he had needed to confirm for himself that somehow Doctor Conners was turning himself into a giant lizard by using his algorithm. And as he looked closely, he could even see a patch of scaled skin behind his ear and as if aware of the glance, Conners put a hand on it to cover it up.
"Doc, you all right?" Peter asked and his concern was real.
"Never been better, Peter. Never been better." And suddenly, the man's mood switched and he approached the Glas door joyfully.
"Now if you excuse me, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I have a new pro2. I need to be alone." he pointed at Liam.  With that, he pushed both boys out of his room and into the lab.
"Don't worry, Mr. Parker. I'll be back. Wonderful things are coming. Wonderful things." he pointed at Liam.
"I'm looking forward to your announcement next week." 
Then he left. The boys looked after him in a mixture of confusion and terror.
"It's him," Peter whispered.
"I know," Liam responded, distracted by something he just heard.

"Look!" he then exclaimed in fascination and pointed at the room where the animals were stored and from where a terrible noise got louder the closer they got.
Through the glass they spotted a comically defaced Fred, who had freed himself and was now sitting in a pool of fresh blood, munching on the remains of another, much smaller unmutated mouse. That wasn't good. Peter looked at his boyfriend with big eyes.
"We need to find a way to stop him. We can go to the police."
"To tell them the Doctor turned himself into a lizard with a serum designed by a teenager? I don't think they would believe us." Liam shook his head.
He stepped closer putting an arm around Peter and propping his chin up on his head while closing his eyes. He claimed that would help him think. Meanwhile, Peter continued to stare at Fred, who was gulping down the rest of a tail.
" Okay," Liam stated.
"Technically, we do not have proof about Conners being the lizard... but we could frame the proof we have to unauthorized and unethical studies on a human. I mean, that's what he did to himself after all."

And that was exactly what they told Captain Stacy as they entered the station to report Conners. But it didn't matter how determined they were with both their pleas and arguments, the man only agree to look into the issue tomorrow as if he just didn't want to believe the urgency. Liam tried to convince him how badly a rogue scientist would reflect on Oscorp, including Gwen as the head apprentice, but yet again, Stacy could only repeat his promise claiming he needed both the resources and the permission of his superior to be able to do anything at all.

So the boys left, disappointed and in despair.
"This is ridiculous!" Peter pointed out as they approached the nearest subway station.
"I know. I really thought Stacy would have the balls to investigate immediately." Liam huffed in agreement.
"But thinking about it, he's got some weird priorities. He had spent the entire dinner talking about how someone must punish Spider-Man for his vigilante shit that day."
"So he doesn't like Spider-Man? Well, looks like Spider-Man has to save the city," Peter responded, rather furious. But then his eyes caught something again and he stopped hot in his tracks, staring at a vent to his feet.
Small reptiles were crawling into it in such a big number, it was more than unusual.
" What is it? "Liam asked who had stopped a few steps ahead and was now eyeing his boyfriend intensely
" I think I know how to find him, "Peter announced, pointing at the creatures.
Liam stepped closer and crouched down to inspect them more closely.
"He must have bathed himself in pheromones. "he hummed.
" I bet they will lead me right to him." Peter added, with a small, grim smirk.

" I don't like the idea of you wandering around the sewers. You don't know what's waiting there for you"
"As long as it's not an evil clown with a taste for boys, I'll be fine,"Peter shrugged, pulling the other boy back up to his full height.
" Really funny, Skater boy."