The sticky pipe walls.
The icy air.
And the stench emanating from rust, silt, and unidentified fermenting substances made Hawke, walking through it, completely shut off his sense of smell.
He wasn't afraid of heat or cold, but he couldn't stand the stench.
He could tolerate the heat and cold, but not the stench, especially this kind of pervasive stench.
Hawke looked at the spider demon leading the way, quite curious.
"How did you find this place?"
"I followed the lizards."
Walking ahead, perhaps because he also felt the stench was too strong, even wearing a spider mask, Peter's voice was somewhat muffled: "It's just ahead, around the corner."
The day before yesterday, when he was fighting the lizardmen at school, he discovered some lizards crawling out of the sewer pipes.
So yesterday, Saturday, Peter, remembering this, figured he had nothing better to do, so he simply ventured into the sewers to search.
After searching all day, Dr. Connors finally found his temporary residence, a veritable labyrinth of underground pipes, this morning.
And so, after finding it, he thought of Hawke, figuring Hawke might be interested too, so he simply went to Hawke's place and invited him on a weekend adventure through New York City's underground maze.
Soon,after Hawke followed Peter around a corner, he saw a platform in the distance.
The platform was crisscrossed with haphazardly strung wires, which were stuck to the walls by an unknown liquid and connected to several light bulbs, illuminating the platform where two laptops and some lab equipment were haphazardly placed.
Hawke walked onto the platform and scanned the area.
"Where's that video you mentioned?"
"Here."
Peter, already at a laptop, typed a few keys, and a video appeared on the screen.
"That blood is Hawk's."
"I should call Hawk…"
"Sizzle… No, he definitely won't give it to me."
"Sizzle!"
"Right, Gwen."
"I can kidnap Gwen and force Hawk to give me the blood."
"Sizzle…"
"That's right, that's it, kidnap Gwen and make Hawk give me the blood."
"Grab…"
In the video, Dr. Connors, his clothes filthy and his hair drooping from sweat, seemed to be talking to himself as if possessed, amidst the occasional flashes of distorted images.
At the end of the video, Dr. Connors, seemingly possessed, unhesitatingly grabbed the last three regeneration potions and injected them into himself.
Then, amidst a series of distorted roars, Dr. Lizard made his grand entrance.
The video ended there.
Hawk's expression, however, became strange.
So, the reason Dr. Lizard was targeting Gwen was to capture her and force him to hand over his blood?
This Hawk couldn't understand Dr. Connors's thought process.
He thought for a moment, and there was only one explanation for Dr. Connors's behavior:
"The lizard serum damaged his brain."
"Would you give it to him?"
"What?"
Hawke looked at Peter.
Peter asked curiously, "If Connors called you, asking for your blood, would you give it to him?"
Hawke frowned slightly at Peter's question.
Would he give it to him?
Pubfuture Ads
He thought for a moment, then nodded and looked at Peter.
"If it's not much, yes."
"Why?"
Peter's eyes widened at Hawke's answer. "Although I don't know the details of your blood, it's highly likely the key to Connors becoming the Lizard. Knowing the outcome, would you still give away your blood?"
Hawke looked at Peter calmly. "He used my blood to become the Lizard, that's his business. But he asked me for it, whether I give it or not is my business."
Peter frowned and shook his head.
"I don't understand."
"You and I, although we don't have parents, at least your parents existed, and you have your Uncle Ben and Aunt May. I'm different. I'm an orphan, always have been. So you can become a superhero, but I can't, never will."
"Why?"
"I'm not as kind as you."
Hawke smiled slightly.
"Of course, I'm not that evil, but I've always believed in the saying, 'A debt of gratitude must be repaid, and a grudge must be avenged!'
When I was fired from Osborn Industries, although it had nothing to do with Dr. Connors, he still wrote me a letter of recommendation."
"Although that letter is useless now, Dr. Connors didn't ask anything of me when he gave it, so…"
Hawke paused, then smiled again, looking at Peter: "It's just a vial of blood. It's no loss to me. I gave it to him, and what he does with it—good or bad—is his business. As long as I have a clear conscience."
Peter nodded thoughtfully at Hawke's explanation.
Hawke then seemed to remember something, looking at Peter: "What, you're interested in my blood too? If you want, I can give you a vial."
Peter snapped out of his reverie, shaking his head vigorously.
"No, no, I don't want to."
"Alright then."
Hawke smiled, said nothing more, and just glanced at the platform again, shaking his head: "That's why I said Dr. Connors' brain was damaged by the lizard serum. He could have just asked me for it, but he had to do this. Let's go."
Now that he knew Dr. Connors' motive, even though it sounded somewhat incomprehensible,it made sense considering Dr. Connors' mental state in the video.
Mentally ill people have a lot of fun, right?
Just like you never know what a cat is thinking, you can never peek into the thoughts of a madman.
So…
Hawke decided to leave.
He was thinking of taking advantage of the day to see if he could sell those five trophies for money, but he ended up being dragged here.
Peter looked at Hawke, who was about to leave: "What about here?"
Hawke thought for a moment.
"Burn it."
"Burn it?"
"When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out. Besides, what if another lizard monster appears if we leave these things behind? But I don't care, it's up to you whether you burn it or not."
"…That makes sense."
Peter thought for a moment and nodded.
"Alright, I'll leave this to you. I'm going back now, good neighbor to New Yorkers."
Hawke smiled slightly at Peter's nod, then turned and waved goodbye without looking back before leaving.
After Hawke left, Peter looked around and left as well.
He needed to find the tools to burn the place down.
And just after Hawke and Peter left, a faint, flickering red dot on the platform gradually dimmed.
…
Read 100+ Advance Chapter At Pa Treon.
patreon.com/MrsFahad
Remove @ to a...
(End of Chapter)