Read 11 chapters ahead on P.A.T.R.E.O.N
patreon.com/Danzoslayer517
________________________________________
Gwen POV:
Night over New York was a song of sirens, car horns and restless wind. I swung high above the rooftops, mask tight, hood up.
Dad's words still echoed in my head: " I'm this close to catching Spider-Woman." He had no idea just how close.
But that wasn't what haunted me.
It was the whispers. Homeless people vanishing. Rats flooding out of subway grates. Sewer workers swearing they saw a giant reptile lurking in the dark.
The Lizard wasn't just a rumor. He was here.
I perched on a ledge to catch my breath when the roar split the night — guttural, monstrous, no longer human.
I crawled into the sewers, the stench of rot and filth clinging to my nose. Heavy thumps echoed with sharp, rhythmic clicks. Like a predator stalking concrete.
Then I saw him.
Scales rippled over hulking green muscles, teeth gleamed in jagged rows, claws longer than kitchen knives, and a thick tail swung menacingly. His yellow eyes burned through the dark.
He picked up my scent.
The Lizard lunged.
I dodged — barely — but his strength dwarfed mine. His tail slammed into me, hurling me into a wall. I crashed through brick, ribs shattering, lungs screaming for air.
Then came the swipe.
Agony ripped through me as three claws carved deep into my chest. My mask muffled a scream, blood soaking my suit.
My vision blurred, but I pushed forward. I couldn't die here. Not when I still owed Peter.
Bleeding, broken, I clawed my way back up, swung out of the sewer, and forced myself toward his house. "Gotta apologize… for disappointing him again." I thought bitterly as darkness closed in.
Peter POV:
The basement hummed with quiet life.
> Regen Serum v1.0 – Synthesis Complete
Stability: 85%
Effect: Accelerated Recovery (Temporary)
Weeks of sleepless nights, endless calculations, all distilled into a single glowing blue vial. My hands trembled over it.
Then came the thud upstairs. The groan. The creak of my window opening.
My blood froze.
I ran.
Peter's Room
She collapsed inside — Gwen. Her suit shredded, crimson bleeding through white spandex. Three deep gashes clawed across her chest, ribs twisted under her skin.
"Gwen!" I caught her before she hit the floor. Her mask slipped halfway, her face pale, drenched in sweat.
"P–Peter…" she gasped. "Bad… sewer monster… claws…"
I didn't panic. I couldn't. My hands moved on their own. Assessing. Calculating. Deep lacerations. Shattered ribs. Possible punctured lung. Massive blood loss.
"Hold still." My voice came out firmer than I felt.
Even in pain, she tried to smirk. "Bossy…"
I tore her suit open with a sharp pull. The spandex ripped, baring the deep wounds across her chest. She hissed, but didn't fight me.
"Sorry." I muttered, already pressing gauze into the wounds. "But if I don't see the damage, you don't see tomorrow."
I let silver nanobots seep from my palm. They crawled into the wounds, dissolving shattered bone fragments, rearranging them into new bones and knitting microstructures of her bones back into place. Her ragged breathing eased slightly.
I grabbed the Regen vial, loaded it into an injector. The serum pulsed faint orange. My heart pounded.
"Gwen… this will hurt like hell."
Her lips twitched. "Try me."
I pressed the injector.
She jerked violently, muffling a scream as I clamped my hand over her mouth. The wounds began to knit. Ribs already set by nanobots. Her breathing steadied. Color bled back into her cheeks.
Minutes later, she slumped against me, trembling but alive.
Her eyes cracked open. "Wha… what did you give me?"
"Regen serum." I whispered. "Temporary regeneration. Won't make you invincible, but it'll keep you alive."
Her gaze sharpened. "You had this ready. You knew—"
"No." I cut her off. My voice broke. "I didn't know you'd crawl in bleeding out. But I knew someday… you'd need it."
The Truth
Once she could sit up, I put one of my old T-shirts over her shoulders. She stared at me, quiet and unblinking.
"Peter," she said softly, " This wasn't luck. You've been preparing. Why?"
The words burned. But I forced them out.
"Because… this is my fault."
Her eyes widened.
"A year ago," I said, trembling, "I gave Connors my dad's incomplete formula. I thought I could finish it. Instead… I turned myself into that monster. You had to bury me in concrete to stop me. You remember."
Her face paled. "I remember."
"And now? Now he's using it again. That thing that slashed you? That wasn't some freak. That was Connors. And it's on me."
I gripped her hand tight. "I swear, Gwen… I'll find a cure. One that fixes him. Gives him his hand back. No more monsters. No more mistakes."
She didn't speak. Just squeezed back, tears glinting.
The Secret Fortune
Later, as I cleaned blood off the floor with hydrogen peroxide, burning her shredded suit in a metal bin, Gwen finally broke the silence.
"Peter… how are you even paying for this? A lab. Nanobots. Serum. It's not… part-time pizza delivery money."
I smirked faintly. "Encrypted accounts. Algorithm trading. Let's just say the stock market doesn't know it's paying me."
Her jaw dropped. "Wait. You're telling me you're secretly a millionaire and a cyborg mad scientist?"
"Shh," I grinned. "Don't tell Ned. He'll beg me for a Bugatti."
Even with fresh bandages wrapping her chest, she laughed weakly. "God, Peter. You're impossible."
I set down a tray of lasagna and soda. "Eat. Regen burns through calories. You'll need sugar."
We sat in silence, the glow of the console casting us both in pale light.
A Spider-Woman scarred across her chest.
A boy who once became a monster, now something worse.
Two broken kids, holding each other together.
And swearing neither of us would break again.
Read 11 chapters ahead on P.A.T.R.E.O.N
patreon.com/Danzoslayer517