Z O E E

        Zoee grunts and wiggles against the rope and roof railing, trying to break free but to no use. The Lizard tied her tight so she won't escape and as Zoee kept struggling, he hurt her by slashing at her face to stop her movements. Zoee knows he's going to use her for Peter to surrender because of the slip up in the elevator. She can't stop cursing herself out mentally for being so stupid and hinting that she knows the masked vigilante. Now she might die because of it, or worse; the whole city might be destroyed. She just hopes that when Peter arrives and he's left to choose between her or her the city, he will choose to save the thousands of civilians. 

        Thinking of the devil, Zoee can here the thwip! of the spider-web. She looks up and watches Peter swing himself up towards the satellite where the Lizard is at. They both fall from the high satellite and crash down into the electrical plant of the Oscorp tower, sparks of electricity flying. Zoee closes her eyes and looks away so that the sparks won't fall into her eyes. 

        The Atkins girl resumes trying to escape, wanting to desperately help as she watches the monster fling Peter off the building. The cuts and scrapes on her face burn as the salty tears flow into them. Her mouth opens to scream for her best friend but she stops herself, not wanting her presence to be known. Luckily, Peter comes back up only for the Lizard to throw a large cylinder at him. Zoee can't see what Peter is doing but she watches as the lizard-man creature recoil back, webs covering his face. 

        More thwips! fill the silent rooftop along with Peter's grunts and the Lizard's growls. A crash grabs her attention and she sees another big tube explode against a pillar, ice forming on the metal. Zoee guesses it's liquid nitrogen, based on its reaction. Peter shoots another web, Zoee hoping it is to reach for something to throw at the monster. But the Parker boy fails, getting caught by the Lizard.

        His scaly tail wraps around Peter's throat, choking him as he uses his large hands to grip at his wrists and destroy his web-shooters. Peter's mask gets ripped off while he grunts in pain and at not being able to breathe properly. Zoee gasps softly at his face full of cuts and bruises. His skin is even covered in blood, the red liquid trickling down his face.

        "Poor, Peter Parker." The monster snarls. "No mother. No father. No uncle. All alone."

        Suddenly, Zoee heard the sound of a gun cocking, following with, "He's not alone!"

        Zoee turns to see Captain Stacy, holding up his gun. The Lizard roars at him before Gwen's dad shoots at a tank nearby. A blue gas fills the air while a metal tube gets detached from the tank. Peter takes the opportunity to grab it and aim it at the monster, his scaly skin hardening and turning blue as it starts to get frozen. Peter then aims it at his tail, making it let go of his neck, dropping Peter on the floor. 

        Peter scrambles up, grabbing the tube again and aiming it at the tail once again, the tail freezing and breaking apart while Captain Stacy shoots at the enormous creature.

       "Detonation starting in T-minus forty-five seconds." A female robotic voice says as the Lizard falls down into a hole in the roof containing more metal containers. That's all that the rooftop has, according to Zoee. She watches the whole thing in horror, not wanting anything more than to escape while she can.

        Zoee watches as at each gunshot at the Lizard broke apart his frozen arm. Hope starts to grow in her chest, her mind convincing her that it is going to be okay. But the next few actions say otherwise. 

        Peter starts to swing and climb up the satellite with a tube that George Stacy gave him. While he does that, Gwen's father continues shooting until the giant lizard monster climbs out, his hand fully grown again. He uses his hand to knock the gun out of the Stacy man's hands before violently pulling his hand back and pushing his long, sharp claws into George's stomach, impaling him.

        A scream erupts from the Atkins girl's mouth, finally making her presence known in the scene. "NO!" She wails, pushing against the restraint of the rope. Zoee starts to look around frantically to see if she can find something that will help her get out. She spots a sharp piece of ice that slid over and starts to wiggle her hands and fingers to slide out of the rope to find it. 

        Her fingers are able to curl around the cold piece of ice and pull it into her palm. She adjusts herself back to her original position and starts to move the sharp end of the ice against the rope, sawing through it. The rope finally snaps, Zoee scrambling up on her wobbly legs, gripping the ice in her hand tighter. "HEY!" She shouts up at the Lizard who is crawling up the satellite to try and stop Peter.

        The Lizard snaps his head towards her, his cold-blooded eyes meeting hers, making goosebumps form on her bare arms in fear. She doesn't let him know she's scared by going into a fighting stance and gripping the ice even tighter. 

        In a matter of seconds, Zoee is scooped up by the creature's clawed hand. She immediately starts stabbing him with the sharp icicle but it seems to not affect him. She quickly glances down at the immense fall which she knows will do some intense damage, so she doesn't try to escape from his grasp as the only way she'll go is down. 

        "Give it up, Peter." The Lizard snarls, squeezing his hand and making his claws poke into Zoee's skin. She winces, her eyes squinting and her vision getting blurry. 

P E T E R

        In his time as Spider-Man, Peter Parker was never as scared as he is now. Tracking down each and every guy Peter thought was Uncle Ben's murderer never terrified him. Not even fighting the giant lizard that is Dr. Curtis Conners made his heartbeat speed up in fear. 

        Only this is making his heart jump out of his chest and his breath hitch; Zoee Atkins being dangled over the satellite tower in the Lizard's death grip.

        "No," Peter breaths out after holding his breath for too long after seeing his best friend in danger.

        "Yes," The Lizard smirks menacingly. "You either let me continue my plan or the I drop the girl." To toy with Peter's emotions, Dr. Conners drops her for a quick second before catching her hand and letting her dangle, her legs swinging back and forth.

        Zoee's yelp of terror makes Peter's heart go cold and fall to his stomach. He has to stop himself from leaping and trying to catch the Atkins girl, something he knows he'll regret.

        The Atkins girl's eyes shine with tears and are blown with fear as she shakes her head. "Don't do it Spider-Man! Save the city."

        Peter smiles sadly, knowing how selfless she is, something he fell in love with about her. At this moment, he wishes that she didn't have this amazing quality. If she didn't, she would've begged for her life and Peter would've completed her wish without a doubt. But as she's not, he's going to have to make the hardest decision of his life. 

        "T-minus ten seconds remaining." Announces the robotic female voice. 

        The Lizard smirks again, shaking Zoee by moving his hand side to side. "Tick tick, Peter. Choose wisely."

        Peter's eyes meet Zoee's, his eyes wetting with fresh tears as he makes his final decision. He gives her one final look before glancing down at the tube filled with the blue antidote that will save both the city and Dr. Conners. 

        Everything happens in a matter of seconds when Peter leaps up to reach the machine to switch out the tubes that if released, will turn the whole city into giant, flesh-eating lizards. Peter rapidly switches out the tubes right before the machine shoots it out into the air. The Lizard grabs a hold of his leg with his two hands, letting the Parker boy know that he dropped the Atkins girl. 

        Peter doesn't even know how he does it, but he swiftly kicks the monster in the face so hard that the Lizard lets him go, jumping to get a hold of the satellite to hold on. Because of his weight, the tower starts to tilt over, giving Peter the perfect opportunity to jump off and go after Zoee.

        As in slow motion, he watches Zoee fall while trying to use gravity to his advantage to grab her. Her arms and hands move frantically as if trying to catch something to avoid her fall. Her hair is whipping all around her face and head at the wind. He can hear her heart-breaking screams as she gets closer to the roof of the building. Peter knowing that there isn't any way he can catch her, he shoots a web, aiming at her stomach to grab her. He attaches the other end to another nearby satellite tower, trusting that the web will stop her fall.

        He doesn't calculate his own fall though, making him almost crash into the falling tower and fall over the edge of the Oscorp tower. He holds on to the edge with one hand, trying to use his strength to pull himself up but to no use. He almost slips when a human hand catches him. Peter looks up to see Dr. Conners starting to turn back into his human form.

Z O E E

        Her screams cease when she hits the ground, her head smashing against the floor of the roof. Her mouth opens to cry out in pain but nothing comes out, her vision growing black slowly. Her hands fumble with one another when she tries to remove the web from her t-shirt but to no use. She wants to get up, or at least crawl to find Peter but she's stuck. Either way, she wouldn't do anything either because the pain is barely letting her move.

        She can feel something wet and sticky on the back of her head, on the same spot where she got hurt when Flash threw her to the ground. White-hot pain prickles behind her head and flows down her body in waves, making Zoee go in and out of consciousness. 

        "P-Peter..." She mumbles, her words slurring with discomfort. She manages to move her head to one side, watching Peter run away from George Stacy's body to go to her. Peter Parker sinks down to his knees once he's close enough, using his hands to cradle the back of her neck and head to hold her up slightly.

        The chocolate-brown eyes Zoee fell in love with are deep with sorrow as he swallows a sob. "Zoee, Zoee. You're going to be okay." He whimpers, sniffling. "You're going to be okay, Zo. I promise."

        Zoee uses all her might to lift her arm and place her hand on Peter's wet cheek. She uses her thumb to rub at his face softly. "I-I knew it was you all along and I'm...I'm in love with you, Peter Parker." She slurs. "You're my best friend but I love you, so so much. I'm sorry...I'm sorry I never told you. You have Gwen and I didn't want to ruin that."

        Peter's face scrunches up in emotional pain, letting himself go and crying along with the Atkins girl. "I'm in love with you, Zoee Atkins. And I have been ever since the first day I saw you in the drama room looking so effortlessly beautiful." He sobs, smoothing her hair back. Zoee's eyes start to droop slightly as she feels so tired. "I wanted you to be the first to know what happened to me but I didn't want to put you in danger. You still got caught and hurt and I'm so sorry for not saving you. Please, stay with me."

        Zoee lifts the corner of her lips to give him a soft smile. "It's okay, Peter. I forgive you. Thank you for making me the happiest I've ever been."

        At her smile, Peter smiles back sadly and chuckles, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "That's my girl."

        The Atkins girl takes this chance to grab at his face and pull him down close, pressing her salty, wet lips to his, kissing him like she's been wanting to do all this time for the past couple of years. She can feel Peter's lips kiss back fiercely, making her eyes fall shut as she tastes him.

        To her dismay, she can feel Peter pull back as quickly as they kissed. She peeks open her eyes, squinting at the bright light she sees before opening them completely. Her eyes quickly run along his face, trying to memorize his beautiful imperfections before her body starts to feel weak and her eyes start to droop again.

        The last words Zoee Atkins hears are, "Zoee! Please, no!"

        Before everything goes black.