Just as Peter was about to say something more, the school building suddenly shook.
Joren frowned at the same time.
Ripples spread rapidly outward from beneath his feet.
Deep underground, an unnatural fluctuation surged upward—fast, violent, and closing in.
The color drained from Peter's face. An unprecedented sense of danger lanced through his nerves like ice.
"!"
"Oh no… He's here!"
"Aaah—!"
A piercing scream tore from the men's restroom at the end of the corridor.
It was followed instantly by a heavy, wet thud—something massive slamming into the wall.
Several boys who'd been about to enter the bathroom scrambled backward, eyes wide with terror.
"Monster! There's a monster in the toilet!"
BANG!
The restroom door exploded outward.
Amidst a cloud of splintered wood and sawdust, a towering figure emerged.
It was a lizard—standing upright on two legs.
Nearly three meters tall, its body was armored in thick, dark green scales. Tattered remnants of a white lab coat still clung to its shoulders.
Lizard.
Its reptilian head swiveled slowly, cold vertical pupils scanning the panicked crowd. A forked, scarlet tongue flicked through the air, tasting fear.
Panic erupted.
Students shoved past one another like stampeding animals, screaming as they fled the hallway—no thought for anything but escape.
Amid the chaos, only two figures remained rooted in place.
"Run, Jojo!" Peter shouted, voice cracking with fear and urgency. "Get out of here!"
He tensed, ready to spring into action—to become Spider-Man, to do what he had to do.
But when he turned to look at Joren, he froze.
The other boy was staring at him with an unreadable expression—something between disbelief, amusement, and… concern?
Peter's face burned crimson.
Wait—what am I doing?!
How could he possibly think Joren needed saving? This was the same guy who'd taken down a roomful of armed thugs barehanded, caught a thrown knife midair without blinking, and beaten Peter so thoroughly their last spar left him sore for days.
Lizard's gaze swept past the fleeing "snacks"—and locked onto Peter Parker.
"Parker…" a guttural, rasping voice grated from its throat.
"You… shouldn't have… blocked my way."
It recognized him.
Ignoring the chaos around it, the creature charged straight toward Peter.
BOOM!
With a casual swing of its shoulder, it obliterated a nearby locker. Twisted metal and glass shards erupted in every direction.
Joren shoved his hands into his pockets and stepped back—just enough to let the debris whistle past his face, untouched.
Peter didn't care about anything else anymore.
He leapt from the shadows and landed steadily in front of Lizard.
"Dr. Connors! Stop! You're sick!"
"ROOOOAR!"
The Lizard answered with a vicious swipe of his claw.
Peter rolled backward just in time. The claws screeched across the terrazzo floor, carving five deep grooves into the stone.
"I'm not sick!" the Lizard snarled, his voice warped by rage and mutation.
He lashed out with his tail, sweeping it across the room like a wrecking ball.
Peter fired a web-line to the ceiling and swung upward, narrowly dodging the crushing arc.
The fledgling Spider-Man was hopelessly outmatched. The Lizard's size, strength, and durability dwarfed his own. His webs couldn't pierce the creature's thick, scaly hide—there was nothing he could do but evade.
"It's in the way!" the Lizard growled, fed up with Spider-Man's acrobatics.
He saw his opening. As Peter swung mid-air, suspended by a single strand, the Lizard stretched his neck and lunged, jaws gaping wide—a rancid maw lined with jagged teeth.
Peter had no leverage. No escape. He could only watch as the colossal mouth filled his vision.
At the last second, he planted both boots against the Lizard's chin and kicked off, using the recoil to twist away.
But the Lizard was faster than he looked.
His tail whipped around like a steel cable and slammed into Peter's ribs.
"BANG!"
The impact sent Spider-Man flying backward through two concrete walls before he vanished in a cloud of dust and debris.
The Lizard let out a thunderous roar of triumph. He took a heavy step toward the rubble—intent on finishing the pest once and for all.
Then he froze.
His vertical pupils slid sideways.
Not far away, a boy in a strange, dark uniform stood completely still. His hands were buried in his pockets. His hat cast a shadow over his eyes.
He hadn't moved. Hadn't flinched. Hadn't run.
Worse—he didn't even seem afraid.
That indifference stoked the Lizard's fury more than any taunt ever could. More, even, than the revelation that Spider-Man was just a kid named Peter Parker.
The beast turned fully toward the stranger—Joren—and let out a low, guttural growl.
Why aren't you afraid of me?
Joren didn't answer. Instead, he simply tugged the brim of his hat lower over his eyes.
That was it.
The Lizard abandoned the wreckage—and the groaning Spider-Man trying to pull his suit back on—and charged.
He barreled toward Joren, right claw raised high, ready to shred the arrogant boy into ribbons.
The claw came down—
—and stopped.
"ORA!"
In an instant, Star Platinum materialized beside Joren, its violet form crackling with impossible speed.
Its fist rocketed forward and slammed into the Lizard's cheek with bone-shattering force.
"BANG—!!!"
The impact echoed through the corridor like a cannon shot.
The Lizard's head snapped back nearly sixty degrees. His entire body lifted off the ground and hurtled backward, crashing through the stairwell railing ten meters away.
Two bloodied teeth spun through the air… and clattered to a stop at Joren's feet.