Sticky pipe walls.
Cold air.
And the stench of rust, sludge, and unknown fermented matter made Hawk directly block his sense of smell as he walked through it.
He wasn't afraid of heat or cold, only stench.
He could endure hot and cold, but not stench, especially this pervasive kind of stench.
Hawk looked at Spider-Woman leading the way in front of him, very curious.
"How did you find this place?"
"I followed the Lizard and found it."
Walking in front, perhaps feeling the stench was too strong, even with the Spider mask on, Peter's voice was a bit muffled: "It's just ahead, around the corner."
The day before yesterday, when he fought Lizard at school, he noticed some Lizards crawling out of the sewer pipes.
So yesterday, on Saturday, Peter, who remembered this after waking up, thought he might as well go into the sewers to search, since he was idle anyway.
As a result, after searching for a day, this morning, he really found Dr. Connors's temporary base in what could be called an underground pipeline maze.
Here it is.
After he found it, he thought of Hawk, feeling Hawk might also be interested, so he simply ran to Hawk's place and invited Hawk to an underground maze adventure in New York City for the weekend.
Soon.
After Hawk followed Peter around the corner ahead, he saw a platform not far away.
On the platform, there were wires haphazardly connected from who knows where, stuck to the wall with an unknown liquid, connecting several light bulbs that illuminated the platform where two laptops and some lab equipment were randomly placed.
After Hawk stepped onto the platform, he scanned around.
"Where's that video you mentioned?"
"Here."
Peter, who had already walked to a laptop, typed a few times on the keyboard, and then a video appeared on the screen.
"That blood is Hawk's."
"I should call Hawk..."
"Static... No, he definitely won't give it to me."
"Static!"
"Oh, right, Gwen."
"I can capture Gwen and then force Hawk to give me his blood."
"Static..."
"That's right, just like that, capture Gwen, and make Hawk give me his blood."
"Capture..."
In the video, Dr. Connors, whose clothes were already filthy and whose hair was matted to his head from sweat, was muttering to himself as if possessed, with occasional screen flickers.
At the end of the video, Dr. Connors, as if demon-possessed, unhesitatingly grabbed the last three regeneration serums and injected them into his body, and then, amidst a series of cracking roars, Lizard Dr. made a grand appearance.
The video ended here.
Hawk's expression, however, became strange.
So the reason Lizard Dr. was targeting Gwen to kill her was here, and the purpose was to capture Gwen to force him to hand over his blood?
This...
Hawk expressed his difficulty in understanding Dr. Connors's thought process.
He thought for a moment, and could only explain Dr. Connors's behavior with one reason.
"The Lizard serum ruined his brain."
"So would you give it?"
"What?"
Hawk looked at Peter.
Peter then asked curiously: "If Connors called you, asking for your blood, would you give it to him?"
Hawk frowned slightly at Peter's question.
Would he give it?
He thought about it in his mind, then nodded, looking at Peter.
"If it's not much, yes."
"Why?"
Peter's eyes widened when he heard Hawk's answer: "Although I don't know the situation with your blood, it's very likely the key to Connors becoming Lizard Dr. Knowing the outcome beforehand, you would still give your blood away?"
Hawk looked at Peter, his tone calm: "It's his business that he used my blood to become Lizard Dr., but if he asked me for it, whether to give it or not is my business."
Peter frowned and shook his head.
"I don't understand."
"You and I, although without parents, at least your parents existed, and you also have your Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei. I'm different, I'm an orphan, always have been, so you can become a superhero, but I can't, never can."
"Why?"
"I'm not as kind as you."
Hawk smiled faintly.
"Of course, I'm not that evil either, but I've always followed one motto: repay kindness, avenge hatred!"
"When I was fired from Osborn Industries, although it wasn't Dr. Connors's business, Dr. Connors still wrote me a recommendation letter."
"Even though this recommendation letter is useless now, when he gave me the recommendation letter, Dr. Connors asked nothing of me, so..."
Hawk said here, smiled again, and looked at Peter: "It's just a tube of blood, it's no loss to me. If he asked, I'd give it. As for what he does with that tube of blood, whether he does good or bad, that's his business. My conscience is clear."
Peter listened to Hawk's explanation and nodded thoughtfully.
Hawk then seemed to think of something and looked at Peter: "What, are you interested in my blood too? If you want it, I can give you a tube as well."
Peter snapped back to reality, shaking his head like a rattle drum.
"No, no, I don't want it."
"Alright then."
Hawk smiled and stopped talking, just scanning the platform once more, shaking his head: "That's why I said Dr. Connors's brain was ruined by the Lizard serum. He could have just asked me for it, but he had to make it like this. Let's go."
Since he already knew Dr. Connors's motive, even though the motive sounded somewhat incomprehensible.
But if one considered Dr. Connors's mental state in the video, then it could be understood.
Mentally ill people have more fun, after all.
Just as you never know what a cat is thinking, you can never peer into the mind of a madman.
So...
Hawk decided to leave.
He was still thinking of quickly dealing with those five spoils of war today to exchange for money, but he was forced to come here.
Peter looked at Hawk, who was preparing to leave: "What about this place then?"
Hawk thought for a moment.
"Burn it."
"Burn it?"
"When a person dies, the lamp goes out. Besides, if we keep these things, what if another Lizard monster pops out? But I don't care, it's up to you whether to burn it or not."
...That makes sense.
Peter thought about it and nodded involuntarily.
"Alright then, I'll leave this to you. I'm heading back first, New York's good neighbor."
Seeing Peter nod, Hawk smiled faintly, then turned around, saying as he waved his hand without looking back, and then left the place.
After Hawk left, Peter looked around and also left.
He needed to find tools to burn this place down.
And just after Hawk and Peter left, on that platform, a faint, flickering red dot gradually dimmed.
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