CHAPTER TEN
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Mae Evans is stuck in a dilemma.

She anxiously bites her nails with her elbow propelled on Gwen's study desk against her window, her mind spiraling in thought. Peter Parker has a secret, which is Mae almost sure she figured out. She tries to recall every time Peter has avoided a question regarding the masked hero who swung around the city. And the truth? He never indulges in conversation that has Spider-Man in it.

Except that one time Peter and Captain Stacy had gotten into an argument about the newbie hero. The memory of that conversation gets Mae to wonder more about her friend and his secrets. He did get rather defensive about Spider-Man, she thinks. A bit too defensive, in fact.

Clearly, Peter has personal connections with Spider-Man; perhaps he even knows his true identity.

Despite all her allegations, Mae isn't completely sure about this either. If he knew who Spider-Man truly was, he wouldn't be so against the idea of the masked hero helping them. Mae knows that Peter isn't dumb enough to truly believe they won't need Spider-Man's help in taking down the Lizard. But the fact that he's denying this has the honey blonde girl jarred.

There is one explanation for this, but Mae shakes that out of all possibilities.

The sound of knocking grabs her attention from her thoughts. She twirls around towards the door and meets the familiar silver blonde, her hair knotted into a high ponytail, features sharp as her sapphire stained eyes look at Mae.

"Still thinking about the Lizard?" Gwen asks, allowing herself into the room and plopping on her bed behind Mae.

Mae groans, "There's nothing else to think about is there? I never thought a lizard would be the one to steal my nights-- I can't even sleep in peace."

Gwen laughs, raising an eyebrow sarcastically."Really?" She says, a smirk brewing on her face. "I thought Peter would be the one."

Mae flushes red as she realises what Gwen means. She widens her eyes. "What? No!" She blushes profusely avoiding her eyes.

Gwen raises her eyebrows in bemusement, the smirk on her face lingering. "You sure? He did sneak into your room at two in the morning."

Mae passes a death glare towards her, but it doesn't get Gwen perturbed at all. Mae shakes her head swiftly, trying to control the red in her cheeks but they don't seem to want to leave anytime soon.

"Anyway," Mae quickly says, clearing her throat. "Do you know where he is now?"

Gwen nods, "He said he wanted to meet Dr. Connors, but he will most likely get kicked out. He doesn't meet anyone when it's not his working hours."

Mae raises her eyebrows at the newfound information. "Dr. Connors, huh? That reminds me... he didn't call me after dad's accident." She frowns.

"Oh yeah," Gwen says. "He and your dad are pretty close, aren't they?"

Mae nods, "There's no way that he didn't find out about the accident. It's all over the news."

"Hey, no need to stress about it." Gwen comfortingly says. "He's probably too sad himself to even say anything."

Mae only nods. Probably..

The chime of Mae's call ringtone breaks their conversation, the honey haired girl's attention instantly falls on her phone. She raises an eyebrow in amusement upon seeing Peter's name forged on her screen and quickly taps on the green button.

"Hello?"

"Um, hey. I need to meet you, both of you. I think I may have found a lead on who the Lizard is... scratch that, I'm sure I know who he is. Can we meet?"

The scurry of the sudden information gets Mae to a loss of words. She stares at Gwen wide-eyed, who raises her eyebrows expectantly.

"Uh, hello? Mae?"

"Yeah!" Mae almost screams into her phone, making her presence known. "Um are you sure you found him? How did you even do it?"

"Yes and I don't think we have much time on our hands so we have to plan on something now."

Mae stands up from her seat as though that can calm her down. A realisation struck on her like silent thunder. She is about to unmask who the Lizard is; she is about to find out the culprit behind her father's attempted murder. Mae struggles to exhale, her hand slightly shaking as she holds her phone close to her ear. Gwen looks at her panicked state and takes her phone from Mae's hand, taking charge of the call.

"Peter? This is Gwen." The blonde's forehead crinkles as she listens to Peter over the phone with deep concentration, her eyes widening as she learns the news too.

"Come over." She instructs. "And for God's sake use the elevator."

Ten minutes later, Mae, Peter and Gwen gather in the girls' temporary shared room. Mae and Gwen perch on the bed while Peter walks back and forth restlessly. He faces the wall, takes a deep breath, and twirls around to meet the expectant faces on Gwen and Mae. And then--

"Dr. Connors."

"What?"

"Dr. Connors. It's him. He's the Lizard."

Mae raises her eyebrows in disbelief. "It's not Dr. Connors. I know him personally-- and he would never hurt my father!" She defensively states.

Gwen raises a hand. "Wait a second," She says. "What do you mean he is the Lizard? You mean he transformed himself?"

Peter nods his head profusely, mumbling a soft 'yes'.

Mae stares at the brunet boy dumbfoundedly. "Why do you believe that? And how could he just transform himself?"

Peter exhales stiffly, straightening himself in front of Mae. He opens his mouth, pauses for a few moments as though he was rehearsing whatever he is about to say in his mouth and says, "Cross-genetics species."

Gwen and Mae look at each other with identical confusion written on their faces. The silver blonde is the one to clarify it. "This is the same thing you suggested to him that day with the internship." Gwen recalls. Peter simply nods in agreement.

"A world without weakness." Mae muses distantly, reminiscing the theory Dr.Connors had proposed that day.

Peter nods again. "And with cross genetics, it's possible. Sort of."

"But how do you know all of this?" Gwen asks, eyebrows contorted.

Peter smacks his lips together. "I was working with him for a few days." As he expected, this grabs their attention, wearing dubious expressions. "Worked with him?"

"Yeah, uh," Peter scratches his neck nervously. "I helped him create the formula that makes cross-genetics species possible."

Mae's mouth hangs open in shock, as do her eyes that seem like they would pop out of their sockets at any moment. "And the formula actually works?"

Peter just bobs his head.

The next few moments are filled with silence as the teenage girls try to process everything they were just told. Mae holds in her breath that seems impersistent to let out of her lungs. Gwen taps her fingers on her thighs as she contemplates deeply, creating a soft rhythm to fill the silence.

Mae is the one to break the stillness. "So Dr.Connors used the formula on himself to regrow his severed arm." She sighs, readying her upcoming words. "And he's doing this on purpose?"

Peter raises his shoulders carelessly. "I can't say for sure. Maybe it backfired. Obviously he didn't intend to turn into a lizard, that's just gross. However the sample of the formula that we created had the DNA of a lizard, because-- you know that lizards have properties of regeneration. That's what he was looking for, for his arm. But what we didn't know is that within a few days the DNA would transform you completely into a lizard, but because of the mutation you grow a lot bigger and more powerful than any regular lizard."

Another few minutes of silence follows.

"...right." Gwen swings her head slowly to form a prolonged nod.

"And he's planning something dangerous." Peter goes on, exhaling heavily. "Tonight."

"Okay, we have to stop him then." Mae shrugs, saying it like it was the most obvious fact. "We'll contact the police, talk to Gwen's dad--"

"Already did," Peter says. "He didn't believe me though."

Gwen groans in disappointment, shaking her head. "Alright then, Plan B."

"Which is?"

"Spider-man." Gwen states with maximum confidence.

Mae feels like she could scream out of happiness. Gwen raises her eyebrows, making her mind clear. The look on Peter's face is devastating-- this is by far the last thing he wanted, and now with Gwen on her side, Mae feels like she can truly capture the Lizard-- Curt Connors-- with the help of Spider-Man. She expectantly looks at him who hangs his neck downwards, his leg shaking restlessly.

"Alright, then." Peter mumbles in a defeating tone, a pinch of guilt is tainted on his face. "Spider-Man it is."

a/n:  yes this chapter is very short compared to the rest bc this is just a filler teeheehee. the reason for this is that next chapter on, things are gonna pick up very fast 👀    hope you enjoyed this chapter despite it being so short!

also, check out the lovely gif made by stansholland !!