"Deep breaths, Connors, just like Banner taught you."
Doctor Octavius's body hovered behind the Lizard Professor, four mechanical tentacles clamped tightly around the creature's limbs.
He could sense that this suit and its tentacles couldn't match the Lizard Professor's brute strength, but as a physicist, Doctor Octavius had plenty of ways to subdue him.
Subduing the Lizard Professor wasn't the goal of everyone in the lab, though. They wanted Professor Connors to take control of the transformed Lizard consciousness, not be driven by instinct.
Clearly, Connors's time studying under Doctor Banner hadn't been in vain. At the very least, under Doctor Octavius's verbal guidance, the Lizard's frantic struggling began to weaken.
His eyes remained golden vertical pupils, his body still that of a lizard, and the severed tail had regrown.
But from Batman's perspective, he could clearly see a flicker of human confusion on that massive reptilian face.
At the same time, within the Lizard Professor's mind, the part belonging to Professor Connors was in a daze.
His current state was like being in a dream. He could perceive everything outside through the Lizard's eyes, ears, and other senses, but he couldn't control the dream. The Lizard's every word and action was driven purely by instinct.
"Who am I? Where am I?"
Professor Connors vaguely sensed his surroundings. Everything he saw was crystal clear: the disdain on the Hulk's face, Batman's expressionless mask, the tentacles wrapped around his limbs.
He knew he was a lizard, but he also knew he was more than just a lizard.
"Who am I?" Professor Connors asked himself again in his mind.
"Connors! Wake up! I know you can hear me!" Doctor Octavius's voice rang out.
Connors froze for a moment, then slowly began to remember everything:
"I am Connors… What am I doing? Oh, I'm turning into a lizard."
"Why am I turning into a lizard?"
He fell into confusion once more, but with each of Doctor Octavius's calls, that dreamlike haze gradually faded:
"I chose to become a lizard to gain control of this body…
"I need to apply what I learned from Banner to myself. Deep breaths, deep breaths!"
"If I can control my breathing, I can control my body!"
"I am Connors, and I am the Lizard. I have a scientist's intellect and unparalleled strength!"
From Batman's viewpoint, the Lizard Professor stood frozen in place, his face flickering with human-like struggle and confusion.
But as time passed, the Lizard Professor's condition stabilized. At a certain moment, he opened his eyes, no longer raging.
Doctor Octavius slowly retracted his tentacles and stood aside, watching the Lizard Professor.
The Lizard Professor turned to the Hulk, a human-like smirk glinting in his golden vertical pupils:
"Big green frog."
The Hulk had been standing calmly beside Batman, waiting for the Lizard Professor to regain consciousness. Suddenly hit with another insult, the Hulk flew into a rage.
BOOM!
The lab floor instantly caved into a deep crater. Amid flying debris, the Hulk charged furiously at the Lizard Professor.
Doctor Octavius didn't have time to intervene. Just as the two monsters were about to clash again, a raised arm blocked the Hulk.
Batman stepped in. The Arkham suit on his body once again manifested the Venom symbiote substance, transforming him back into Venom Batman, standing between the Hulk and the Lizard Professor.
BANG!
The Hulk's fist and the Lizard Professor's claws were simultaneously stopped by Batman. He stared at the Lizard Professor, brows furrowed:
"Professor Connors?"
"I'm not Connors," the Lizard's mouth slowly split open, revealing a full set of sharp teeth, "and I'm not the Lizard… I am the Lizard Professor, Batman."
"The Lizard Professor?" Batman eyed the massive creature.
This was, in the truest sense, the first time Batman had heard the name "Lizard Professor" from his own mouth.
"Big lizard?" The Hulk also looked at the Lizard Professor in confusion, provocatively testing him, "Crybaby bug, tail-dropping bug?"
HISS!
The Lizard Professor immediately let out a threatening hiss, baring his teeth at the Hulk, but he didn't attack. Instead, his body began to shrink, the scales on his surface vanishing as he reverted to Professor Connors.
"Connors, what just happened?" Doctor Octavius asked with concern.
"Otto," Professor Connors nodded at Doctor Octavius, "I… I think I've mastered that power inside me, just like the Hulk."
The Hulk snorted from the side, flexing his biceps as he glanced at Connors's severed arm. Then his own body rapidly shrank, transforming back into Doctor Banner.
"Connors." As soon as Doctor Banner reverted, he stepped forward to support Professor Connors.
When they were monsters, they mocked each other, but as humans, the two scientists remained on quite good terms.
"At first, it was like I was dreaming. I didn't know who I was. Even though I could hear your voices and everything outside, I couldn't respond…"
Professor Connors, with Doctor Banner's help, sat down in a chair: "But once I slowly realized who I was, I started using the methods Doctor Banner taught me to regain my sanity and control over my body."
Professor Connors described his post-transformation state in detail, with Doctor Banner helping to take notes:
"I realized I couldn't fully control the Lizard's body after transforming, so I chose another approach… to coexist with this beastly instinct. The Lizard provides the power, and I, Connors, provide the thought."
"And so you became the Lizard Professor," Doctor Octavius summarized from the side.
Doctor Banner smiled:
"So now our lab has an octopus, a lizard, and a bat gathered together?"
It was clearly a lame joke. Batman remained expressionless as the Venom symbiote writhed and vanished from his body. Doctor Octavius gave an awkward chuckle, and Professor Connors looked helplessly exasperated.
"No matter how you look at it, at least one threat on the island has been resolved." Seeing no one respond to his joke, Doctor Banner felt a bit awkward and quickly changed the subject, "Batman, what did you mean earlier about leaving for a while?"
Batman cautiously avoided saying "New Mexico," worried that Doctor Banner and the Hulk would immediately make the connection and cause unnecessary trouble:
"I'm going abroad to carry out a rescue mission."
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