Quality of Life Part Two

The Lizard has come to kill Monanno CEO Cliff Arliss due to the fact that his alter-ego, Curt Connors, blames his company for giving his wife, Martha, cancer. However, when the Lizard attacked the CEO at his office, he is confronted by Yith a hired assassin with reptilian eyes and a lower torso that resembles that of a snake. When the Lizard tries to attack Yith, the creature discovers that she is just as agile as he is. As the pair battle each other, Spider-Man arrives on the scene having witnessed the Lizard’s arrival while photographing a protest outside as Peter Parker. He arrives outside the office window just at Yith begins opening fire with her automatic weapons forcing the web-slinger to leap out of the way of the flying bullets. Despite the fact that she has fired 90 rounds, Yith still hasn’t managed to hit the Lizard. The creature, on the other hand, has been able to close the distance between the two of them. However, when he grabs Yith’s hands she then spits in his eye. The venom in her saliva causes the Lizard enough pain to recoil.

That’s when Spider-Man enters the office and asks if anyone can join in on the battle. Seeing the web-slinger, the Lizard lunges at Spider-Man, but this is only to make Spider-Man lunge out of the way so the creature can escape. With the battle over, Spider-Man asks Yith and Arliss what is going on. Cliff explains that the Lizard’s attack was unprovoked and that he has Yith on retainer to provide private security. The whole exchange has the web-head feeling uncomfortable, mostly because of Yith’s reptilian nature. Cliff insists that if Yith hadn’t been there to protect him, he would be dead. Spider-Man wants to know why the Lizard would try to kill him, pointing out that he’s tangled with the Lizard many times in the past and that he wouldn’t be trying to kill the CEO of Monanno without a reason.[1] Cliff becomes defensive and threatens to sue the web-slinger for slander if he continues suggesting the attack was on purpose. However, Spider-Man knows that Arliss is lying since, among the scattered paperwork in the office, he spots a file Monanno had compiled on Curt Connors and the Lizard. Seeing that he is getting nowhere, Spider-Man leaves.

Once the web-slinger is gone, Cliff asks Yith for her impressions on the encounter. She then picks up the dossier on the Lizard, and is convinced that Spider-Man saw them. When Cliff asks what he should do, Yith tells him that she is going to do what he hired her to do, find Curt Connors and kill him. That’s when Cliff’s partner, Steven Holder comes from a shareholders meeting after hearing the police were coming and wanted to make sure everything is okay. As Yith leaves, Cliff tells Steve that she has been hired on as security as Holder has proven inadequate for the job. When Steve asks if this has to do with the lawsuit they’re facing in Florida, Cliff refuses to settle with the Connors family, saying that it is an admission of guilt, pointing out that news that their work — which feeds the world — causes cancer would be bad publicity for their company.

While at the Daily Bugle, Peter Parker is kicked out of J. Jonah Jameson’s office when he learns that Parker didn’t get a single picture of Spider-Man and the Lizard at the Monnano building. Ben Urich overhears all of this and points out to Peter that the reason Jameson acts that way is for the image. Peter decides to pick Urich’s brain on the Monnano corporation, asking why people are protesting the company. Ben says that there are a lot of people trying to sue the company and Congress is also looking into their trade practices. He concludes his assessment by saying that although the company says they’re in the business of making food for the world, they’re are only in it to make money. At that moment, Billy Connors is visiting his mother in the hospital and wonders where his father is. Martha suggests that Curt must be meeting with their lawyers. That’s when Curt arrives and tells his family that he’s fine. That’s when he and Martha ask Billy to leave so they can talk in private. While Billy waits outside, Martha pressures Curt to let her undergo the surgery that might save her life even though it only has a small margin for success. She doesn’t want to die, but she also wants to know that Curt will be there to look after Billy when she’s gone, she stresses that Curt is there for him, not the Lizard.

By that evening, Peter Parker has spent hours doing research on Monanno and their questionable business practices. Leaving for the night, Ben Urich sees this and figures they’ll make a reporter out of Peter yet, however, Parker insists that he is going to stick to photography. After Urich is gone, Peter discovers that there are tons of cases online about Monanno and decides to narrow it down by searching to see if there are any lawsuits between Monnano and Curt Connors. When finds what he is looking for, Peter is troubled by what he reads. At that moment, Curt Connors is having a conversation with his son in the hospital cafeteria. He tells Billy about the risks involved in the surgery his mother wants to undertake, saying it could leave her paralyzed and, even then, the cancer might come back. Suddenly, Billy feels ill and collapses to the floor. Rushing to his son’s side, Curt calls for a doctor to come help him. Moments later, Curt meets with the doctor that has been treating Martha and asks if Billy is suffering from the same illness. Although the doctor says they won’t know until they put Billy under an MRI, Curt already believe that cancer is going to take his son away too. As he weeps he is unaware that Yith is watching him nearby and says to herself that Connors will be losing his family a lot sooner than he thinks.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, the Lizard, Yith, J. Jonah Jameson, Ben Urich, Billy Connors, Martha Connors, Cliff Arliss

Continuity Notes

1. Spider-Man’s not mincing words, at the time of this story Spider-Man has fought the Lizard on 16 occasions as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #6, 44-45, 76-77, 101-102, Giant-Size Spider-Man #5, Amazing Spider-Man #165-166, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #33-34, Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12, Marvel: 1985 #6, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #127, Amazing Spider-Man #313, Spider-Man #1-5, Amazing Spider-Man #365, Web of Spider-Man #109-111, Spider-Man Unlimited #19 and Spider-Man: Lifeline #1-3.