Inside the underground lab, some of the lizard men were fighting among themselves while others had gone into nearby rooms to rest. Only a few were left guarding the hostages.
"Here, catch." Jack took something that looked like a small pod about the size of a thumb from his suit and tossed it to Peter.
"What's this?" Peter caught it and looked at the small device with a puzzled expression.
"Injection pods. They contain antidotes that can turn those lizard men back into humans, but I only managed to make two. I never expected this many lizard men to show up."
I only made them for Dr. Connors, with one extra as a backup. Who would've thought he'd create an entire army of lizard men? Jack thought to himself.
Peter had countless questions. From what he knew, creating an antidote without properly studying the samples shouldn't have been possible.
Jack released several tiny flying nanobots from his suit. They immediately scattered in different directions, flying through the underground laboratory, and a few seconds later, a holographic map of the entire lab appeared above Jack's wrist.
"Here's the plan," Jack said, pointing at the holographic map.
"The hostages are being held in a separate room on the other side of the lab. Only two lizard men are guarding them."
He pointed to another section of the map.
"Gwen and I will attack from this side. Once the fighting starts, most of the lizard men will rush toward the noise."
His finger then traced a narrow passage connected to the hostage room.
"While they're distracted, take out the two guards, rescue the hostages, and lead them through this tunnel. It connects directly to the outside, so you won't have to pass through the main laboratory."
"Understood." Peter memorized the route on the holographic map before quietly heading toward the hostages, while Jack and Gwen moved toward the opposite side of the laboratory.
"Why are you using the suit instead of transforming?" Gwen suddenly asked.
"I'll use the Omnitrix's DNA repair function to cure them, just like I cured you," Jack replied quietly. "I can't use that function while I'm transformed, so I'll have to stay in human form."
"Liar." Gwen glanced at him with a knowing look.
"W-What? Lie?" Jack stopped walking and looked at her.
"Don't you think your explanation has a lot of loopholes?" Gwen said. "You could just transform, knock all of them down first, then change back and cure them. It would be much faster."
Hearing that, Jack knew he had been caught.
"Hehe... I knew my Gwen was smart." Jack laughed awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head.
"I just upgraded this suit with Morgan's help, but I haven't had a proper chance to test it in real combat. Normal thugs can't even take a single punch, so I can't really tell how strong it's become. These lizard men are tough enough to actually push the suit a little."
He gave Gwen an apologetic smile.
"So... sorry."
"Hmph." Gwen folded her arms. "If you start losing, don't be an idiot. Transform immediately."
With that, she walked ahead. Jack smiled helplessly before catching up.
"When we're fighting, use your webs to restrain them for a few seconds. That's all the time I need to restore their DNA."
Gwen gave a small nod.
"I'll use the suit's invisibility to take one down before anyone notices. If that fails, pin him down with your webs."
Using the Plumber suit's invisibility, Jack silently approached a lizard man resting alone after fighting with the others. Just as Jack was about to strike, the lizard suddenly sensed something and instinctively turned around — too late.
With a powerful punch enhanced by both the X Serum and the Plumber suit, Jack struck the lizard square in the head, sending him flying several meters across the room. Before the lizard man could recover, Gwen fired several webs that instantly pinned him to the ground.
"Omnitrix, Restore his DNA."
[Scanning...] A green light swept across the lizard man's body.
[Human species mixed with foreign DNA detected.]
[Restore original DNA?]
"Yes. Do it, fast."
As soon as Jack gave the command, the Omnitrix emitted another pulse of green light. The lizard man suddenly let out a painful roar as his body began changing. His scales slowly receded, his claws shrank, and his reptilian features gradually returned to normal. Within a few seconds, a human lay where the lizard man had been.
The noise immediately drew the attention of the nearby lizard men.
"Puny humans have invaded our territory — ATTACK!" the one-eyed lizard roared as he was the first to charge toward Jack and Gwen.
As the lizard man returned to human form, Jack received a notification from the system, but he ignored it and focused on the battle instead.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the lab, the sounds of Jack and Gwen's fight echoed through the underground tunnels.
"Aren't we going to check it out?" one of the lizard guards asked.
"No need." The other lizard man shook his head. "The boss's orders are clear. We guard these humans no matter what happens." His reptilian eyes remained fixed on the cage.
The terrified hostages huddled together in the corner, not daring to make a sound, afraid they would become the monsters' next meal.
Suddenly, both lizard men felt something like a tiny sting on the backs of their necks.
"What's tha—" Before either of them could react, a burning sensation spread throughout their entire bodies.
"AAAHHH!" Both lizard men let out painful roars as they collapsed onto the ground.
It was Peter. Following Jack's plan, he had been silently clinging to the ceiling the entire time. The moment the two guards lowered their guard, he quietly dropped behind them and pressed the injection pods Omnix had given him against the backs of their necks before quickly jumping away.
"Don't be afraid. You're safe now," Peter said as he jumped down in front of the frightened hostages.
"It's Spider-Man!" "I know him! I've seen him on TV!" one of the hostages shouted excitedly.
"Let's get you out of here." Peter grabbed the metal bars of the cage and easily bent them apart, creating an opening for everyone to escape.
"They... they were humans?" Seeing the two lizard men return to normal, the hostages stared in disbelief. None of them had imagined the monsters had once been ordinary people.
Peter quickly removed the metal collars from both of them.
"Help them and stay together. Follow me — I'll get all of you out of here. It's too dangerous to stay."
As Peter led the rescued hostages and the two newly cured humans into the tunnel, on the other side of the underground lab Jack and Gwen were already locked in a fierce battle against the remaining lizard men.
Jack had already taken down and cured several lizard men, but the sounds of the battle kept drawing more and more of them from every corner of the underground lab.
"More of them are coming!" Gwen shouted as she fired several webs, binding two charging lizard men to the wall.
Jack rushed forward. The moment a lizard man swung its claws, the Plumber suit instantly shifted into Power Mode. The armor around Jack's arms thickened as he met the attack head-on, his fist crashing into the lizard's chest and sending it flying into a concrete pillar.
Another lizard dropped from above. Jack immediately switched to Speed Mode. Blue energy flashed beneath his boots as he sidestepped the attack in an instant before sweeping the lizard's legs out from under it.
A third lizard charged from the side. Jack's visor instantly highlighted its movements, and with the suit's combat analysis assisting him, he narrowly dodged the claws before driving an elbow into its jaw.
"Not bad..." Jack muttered, testing the suit's performance as he continued fighting.
"Now!" Gwen instantly understood. Her webs wrapped around the fallen lizard, pinning it to the floor.
"Omnitrix, restore its DNA." A flash of green light later, another lizard returned to human form.
Before they could catch their breath, three more lizard men rushed toward the newly cured humans. Jack's visor immediately locked onto them.
[Threat Detected.]
His shoulder compartments opened, firing several compact stun rounds. The projectiles exploded with bright electrical bursts, forcing the lizard men backward before they could reach the civilians.
"Get behind us!" Gwen shouted as she moved in front of the rescued humans.
The fight became more chaotic with every passing second. Every time Jack cured one lizard man, another rushed in to take its place, forcing him and Gwen to protect the newly restored humans while continuing the battle.
"Master, Peter has rescued the hostages," Red Queen reported after monitoring him through the spy nanobots. "Also, Master... Emma and Morgan didn't stay home. They're here too." Red Queen casually sold out the two girls without a hint of guilt.
"I'm not surprised." Jack sighed. "Tell Emma to get those people to a safe place immediately."
Jack ripped the metal collar from one of the unconscious lizard men's necks.
"Red Queen, can you do it now?"
"The suit has been scanning the collar's signals since the beginning of the battle, Master. Now that we have a physical sample, I can complete the analysis."
A second later, Red Queen spoke again.
"Analysis complete. The collars all operate on the same control frequency."
"Can you activate the paralysis function?"
"Yes, Master."
The collars around every lizard man's neck suddenly lit up at once.
"UGHHHH!" The lizard men instantly collapsed one after another, their bodies twitching in pain.
"Now!" Jack shouted. Gwen immediately webbed down the few who were still struggling while Jack hurried over, restoring their DNA one by one.
"Dr. Connors isn't here. Could he be with that scientist?" Gwen asked as she looked toward the large metal door the scientist had disappeared through.
"With all the commotion we've caused, he should've come out by now." Jack frowned. "The fact that he hasn't made a move at all is what's suspicious."
As he spoke, Jack walked toward the heavy metal door and activated his wrist-mounted laser.
Boom! The reinforced door was blasted open.
The moment they stepped inside, both of them froze.
The room was filled with evidence of countless human experiments—broken restraints, operating tables stained with blood, shattered test tubes, and scattered research documents covered every surface of the laboratory.
"He deserves to die," Gwen said coldly.
Just then...
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
The sound of slow applause echoed through the laboratory.
A/N: The Patreon version is already updated with 20 advanced chapters. If you'd like to read ahead of the public release schedule, you can join here:
👉 patreon.com/BenBlazecraft