The Lizard Man with Hawk's Scent

Peter swung through the air and landed steadily on the rooftop of Hawk's apartment.

"Wow, Spider..."

"Peter?"

Hawk looked at the landed Spider-Man. Just as he was about to speak, he watched Peter pull off his mask and reveal his true face, surprise appearing on Hawk's face.

After taking off his mask, Peter gave a shy laugh.

He now agreed with something Gwen had said before.

"Hawk, your acting really isn't very good."

"Is that so?"

Hawk froze slightly. Looking at Peter nodding seriously, he shrugged. "All right, then I'll keep working on it."

If one person said his acting was bad, maybe that person just had poor judgment.

But if two people said it...

Hawk began reflecting on whether his acting really was that terrible.

Peter smiled, then brought up Lizard, whom he had just encountered.

"By the way, Hawk, did you see what just happened?"

"Part of it. But just as I was about to watch, you and that lizard man had already disappeared."

Hawk told the truth.

He had seen the beginning and the end, but not what happened in between.

Still, it was fine. He could see it in the news tomorrow.

As everyone knew.

New York City's media reacted incredibly fast. Less than three minutes after Lizard appeared on the Williamsburg Bridge, Hawk had already seen three media helicopters from different TV stations whirring overhead.

Hearing that, Peter froze slightly. He instinctively looked around, then glanced in the direction of the Williamsburg Bridge, which was nearly invisible to the naked eye from here.

He could see it from here?

Peter looked at Hawk in shock.

Hawk smiled. "My eyesight is pretty good, but yours is just as good, isn't it?"

Peter nodded instinctively again.

That was true.

If he concentrated, he could also see the Williamsburg Bridge clearly from here.

As Peter thought that, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Then did you see where the lizard man ran off to?"

"No."

"All right."

Peter sighed. "I didn't expect it to be so strong. It flung me away, and by the time I was ready to fight back, it had already jumped into the river."

Hawk asked curiously, "How strong do you think it is?"

Peter looked at Hawk, thought seriously for a moment, then frowned. "It's stronger than me, but not as fast or agile. Still, it's faster than me underwater."

Got it.

A one-punch job.

He would not even need to unleash his Cosmo.

Listening to Peter's assessment, Hawk thought to himself, nodded, and prepared to go back to sleep.

But...

Just then.

Peter seemed to remember something and said to Hawk, "Still, that lizard monster gave me a familiar feeling. I was thinking about what that feeling was when it threw me away."

Hawk looked at Peter.

"Have you figured out where that feeling came from?"

"Yeah."

Peter nodded, then looked at Hawk.

Hawk said nothing, waiting for Peter to continue. But after Peter nodded, he merely stared at him. Hawk froze for a moment before realizing what Peter meant.

"You mean me?"

"Yeah."

"How is that possible?"

Hawk found the idea absurd.

How could Lizard have his scent? He had only gone to Dr. Connors's laboratory once.

And even if it was a scent left over from their handshake, more than two months had passed. How could it possibly still remain?

He was not some goddess, and Dr. Connors was not a simp who, after shaking hands with his goddess, could not bear to wash his hand.

But Peter looked at Hawk and said seriously, "The last time I met you at the old gym, so I remember your scent especially clearly. But that lizard monster's scent was very faint, so faint that it was almost impossible to smell. Otherwise, I wouldn't have taken so long to remember it."

Hawk frowned as he looked at Peter, who sounded so certain.

"Are you sure?"

"I can't be wrong."

Peter nodded, then thought some more. "That lizard monster felt like he had been in contact with you, so some of your scent remained on him. Just like Gwen has some of your scent on her, except Gwen's scent is much stronger than that lizard monster's."

With that explanation, Hawk suddenly understood.

He had thought Peter was implying something else.

So that was all.

Hawk chuckled softly and looked at Peter. "Then I probably know who he is."

Peter's eyes lit up.

"Who?"

"Curtis Connors, from the Osborn Bio-Industry Regeneration Laboratory. Gwen went there yesterday, and Dr. Connors was researching lizards for regenerative technology."

If Peter had merely said that Lizard carried some trace of him, Hawk would have been completely confused.

But once Peter compared it to Gwen, he understood.

If Hawk's scent was one, then the scent Gwen picked up from being with him would be zero point five. And Gwen had gone to Osborn Bio-Industry the morning before yesterday, where she had come into contact with Dr. Connors.

So theoretically, that barely detectable scent Peter smelled on Dr. Connors should have come from that.

Hearing Hawk reveal the lizard monster's identity, Peter opened his mouth in shock.

"It was him?"

"You know him too?"

"Yeah. I remember seeing him with my dad."

"All right."

After figuring out where Dr. Connors's lingering scent had come from, Hawk was completely relieved.

He yawned.

"All right, it's late. I'm going to bed."

"...All right."

Peter had been planning to keep discussing the lizard monster's dangers with Hawk, but seeing Hawk like this, he could only let it go.

"Good night, Hawk."

"Good night, Spider-Man!"

"Uh, I'm not Spider-Man."

"Are you sure?"

Hawk had already turned and walked halfway back when he looked over his shoulder, tilted his head, and looked at Peter with a faint smile. "Come on, tell me loudly. Where does your webbing shoot out from?"

Peter opened his mouth, his expression turning serious.

"Good night, Hawk."

"Good night, Peter."

This time, Hawk did not tease Peter.

Soon.

Peter swung away.

After returning home, Hawk finished his fried chicken leg, took a cold shower, then climbed into bed and went to sleep.

At the same time.

Beneath Queens, within the maze-like sewer pipes that could even become home to countless homeless people when winter blizzards came.

A beastlike roar sounded from the depths, gradually growing lower and lower.

Until finally.

The roaring disappeared.

In its place came a human groan!

A new week—please keep reading. The mass release is underway!