54. The Lizard, Bewitched by the Demon

When Hawk and Gwen arrived on the second floor, the Lizard was already gone. In his place was Dr. Connors, who had reverted to his human form, though his chest bore a severe and irreversible wound.

Blood spilled from the corners of Dr. Connors' mouth, yet as he looked at Hawk walking toward him, a forced smile appeared on his face.

"Thank you!"

"..."

Hawk remained silent, merely looking at Dr. Connors with a raised eyebrow.

Beside him, Gwen asked with a hint of bewilderment, "Doctor, why did you want to kill me?"

She could not comprehend it.

If Dr. Connors was acting because of the incident on the Williamsburg Bridge, he should have gone after Spider-Man.
If Dr. Connors was after blood, he should have gone after Hawk.

So why did he target her?

Leaning against the wall, devoid of any remaining strength, Dr. Connors chuckled weakly at Gwen's question.

As his chest heaved, a trace of bloody flush appeared on his pale face, followed by a spurt of fresh blood, and his breathing grew extremely faint.

Teetering on the brink of death, about to close his eyes forever, Dr. Connors uttered the final words of his life.

"I don't know either."

"Maybe..."

"I was bewitched by a demon."

"I'm..."

"......sorry!"

"Thud!"

As these words were barely finished, Dr. Connors closed his eyes completely, and his severed left hand dropped to the floor with a crisp impact.

Dr. Connors was dead!

Seeing this, Hawk withdrew his gaze from Dr. Connors' corpse and spoke to the spider-creature standing nearby, "Aren't you leaving yet?"

Peter, who was still in shock from the fact that a single punch had taken down Dr. Connors, snapped back to reality and looked at Hawk.

"What about you?"

"The person was killed by the spider-creature, what does that have to do with me, Hawk?"

"I am not a spider-creature."

"Then your webbing..."

"I'm leaving."

Without any further nonsense, Peter turned, shot a strand of web, spun mid-air, thrust his toes through the glass window on the ceiling, slipped through, and vanished from Hawk and Gwen's sight.

Just then, Gwen also recovered her senses. Seemingly remembering something, she let out a gasp and then pulled Hawk toward the library's security monitoring room downstairs.

"No, the cameras!"

"Don't worry, they didn't catch it."

"Ah?"

"The spot where I struck was a blind spot. You can only see the Lizard flying backward; you can't see who hit him."

Being pulled downstairs by Gwen, Hawk explained with a smile.

Perhaps this was destiny.

As for exposure, he truly didn't care. When he threw the punch, he hadn't known it was a blind spot; he only realized it afterward.

So it was none of his business.

Perhaps, just perhaps, God felt it wasn't time for him to be exposed yet.

Assuming God existed, that is.

Half an hour later, the New York Police Department officers carried out the deceased Dr. Connors, whose body had already grown cold inside the library.

George Stacy, captain of the Manhattan 19th Precinct, also rushed to the scene.

"Gwen!"

Stepping out of his car, George rushed straight toward Gwen and pulled her into an embrace. "Thank God you're safe."

"Dad."

Breaking free from George's arms, Gwen glanced at Hawk, then took Hawk's right hand and said to George, "Hawk protected me."

George subsequently looked at Hawk.

Hawk politely greeted him as usual.

"Mr. Stacy."

"Thank you."

Unlike the previous time when he ignored Hawk, George gave a slight nod this time and thanked him.

Hawk smiled and said, "It was only right."

George said nothing, his peripheral vision sweeping over Gwen and Hawk, who were holding hands in front of him. He then turned to Gwen and said, "Call Helen. She was very worried after the news reported that Midtown High School was attacked by the Lizard."

Only then did Gwen remember she had forgotten to call her mother. She let out a soft cry of surprise, quickly pulled her phone from her pocket, and dialed her mother, Helen.

While Gwen ran off to make the call, George stood beside Hawk, looking at Dr. Connors being zipped into a body bag not far away. "So, the Lizard was Dr. Connors. But why did he come to the school?"

A ripple stirred in Hawk's heart, but he shook his head expressionlessly. "I don't know."

He was pondering the words Dr. Connors had spoken before he died.

*Bewitched by a demon.*

Good grief.

What kind of demon could bewitch Dr. Connors into ignoring Spider-Man, with whom he had fought on the Williamsburg Bridge, and also ignoring Hawk, whose blood seemed so crucial to him, to make his primary target the completely harmless Gwen?

That made no sense.

Unless that demon wasn't a proper, legitimate demon at all.

Hawk thought silently to himself.

Unfortunately...

Dr. Connors was dead, and the answer to this question would likely remain a mystery forever.

Soon, Gwen walked back with a lightened step after reassuring her mother Helen, and quite naturally linked her arm through Hawk's. "I've told Mom I'm safe."

Out of the corner of his eye, George watched his daughter's natural gesture. The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily, and he decided it was time to leave.

He had to leave; otherwise, he feared he might lose control and shoot Hawk on the spot.

Another half hour later, with the departure of the NYPD Queens Precinct and Captain George Stacy of the 19th Precinct, Midtown High School announced an early dismissal for the day.

The students, still reeling from the shock of Spider-Man's battle with the Lizard, snapped out of their stupor upon hearing the decision. Cheering for the school's wise choice, they bolted toward the parking lot like wild horses breaking free from their reins.

Hawk also shook his head, too lazy to ponder why Dr. Connors had done such a thing.

Dead was dead.

Thinking about it further was useless.

It was the weekend.

Because it was the weekend, Hawk stayed cooped up in his new apartment. He connected the beauty-owned second-hand computer that Skye had sold him to the hotspot of the beauty-owned second-hand phone his girlfriend had given him, and surfed the internet.

Taking advantage of his free time this weekend, he planned to search online to see if he could sell the five Chitauri weapons he had confiscated after killing Chitauri soldiers, which were currently hidden under his bed.

He had to sell them.

He had to find a way to make money; otherwise, even if he wanted to attend the prom, he wouldn't even have the cash to buy a suit.

Though theoretically, he wasn't short on money anymore.

Still...

Even after being corrupted by the symbiote, the worst evil the original Spider-Man committed was buying a discounted suit.

Hawk felt his moral standards might not quite match the original Spider-Man's, but at least he shouldn't fall too far behind.

Just as he was browsing online for sales channels, a loud *thud* sounded against the window.

Hawk looked up.

The very spider-creature he had just been thinking about was clinging to his windowpane, peering inside from the fire escape outside.