PTR Arachnid 24601

Ch 33 - I'm my own fucking person, thank you

I just edited the last chapter so instead of Bucky staying behind from the mission, it was Bruce. (Just a small detail. You don't have to go back and look).

WARNING: just a bit more swearing than normal, I guess.

3rd POV

To say Peter was frustrated with the police would be an understatement. There was no word accurate enough in the English language to describe his stubbornly irked mood. Realizing that the police gave zero fucks, Peter sought out the Lizard himself. Warmth be damned, if he has to crawl through every cold, damp, disgusting sewer tunnel in New York, then he will.

His next move was a true moment of 'fuck it, I'll do it myself'.

Peter dropped down into a sewer in the area the Lizard seemed to frequent the most. This huge cylindrical sewer had many smaller tunnels branching off, creating easy access to many different places. He could see why the Lizard liked it so much.

The bottom being a huge whirlpool of water was a little scary though.

Peter shot multiple webs down each of the tunnels, connecting the lines all into the centre. That way, he might feel some vibrations before he hears or sees it––nothing would catch him off guard. Spider shivered in the cold and damp of the underground as he sat down on the giant web. He attached the camera he brought to the corner and pulled out his spare phone to play Tetris.

A good nine minutes went by until the first vibration thrummed in his ears and rocked his body ever so slightly. Spider sat up and stared down the tunnel, finding nothing. But he kept his eyes planted on the end, Spidey Sense tingling in his neck as a very early warning of what was yet to come.

As Peter began to crawl along the string of web, a different line vibrated loudly, attracting his attention. His Sense began to ring, needling his neck persistently. (And his spider told him to look, look, look). More and more lines started trembling, shaking at random integers and confusing the spandex-clad hero. Spider stayed on high alert as he frantically kept spinning, changing direction with each new pluck of web. He finally spotted the source––some large shadows dancing on the sides of the tunnels––and tensed for a fight.

When the shadows neared, he was relieved to find that they were just tiny lizards. The amount of them was quite concerning, however. Peter estimated about seventy hand-sized reptiles were making their way to the centre of the web and just... dropping into the whirlpool.

A few, however, didn't. They gathered together and walked into one tunnel as though they were robots obeying a command. Spider-Man, creeped out by their actions, followed silently behind them, hoping this would get him to Dr. Connors. With this many reptiles, the Lizard's gotta be around here somewhere.

When they suddenly stopped in their tracks, barely making it past the tunnel opening, Peter also paused. What were they doing? Why did they stop? Why aren't they going anywhere?

Spider looked around. He didn't see anything suspicious. Nor did he smell or hear anything. The gurgling of foul water was drowning everything out, blocking his senses. But his Spidey Sense was frantic from his head to his spine, pounding at his skull. (His spider was yelling look, look, look again but he didn't know where it meant). The teen backed up, perplexed, and stopped abruptly when he heard something.

The swooshing of something slippery against stone.

And this definitely wasn't water. Nor was it something as small as these lizards or himself. Peter searched for the noise again, finding it above and behind him. He whirled around and was immediately thrown to the centre of the web by the one and only Lizard himself.