Earth R_-SP47: Spite-R Man

Beginnings

"As you can see, children... We have some temporary enclosures for our genetically modified spiders. Here, you can get up and close with them and observe their behavior. I can't explain all of your questions as these are simply prototypes, but if you have any questions that need answers, please shoot em my way!" The NSRC tour guide spoke in an uplifting tone, bringing the band of junior students from Lincoln High up close to the glass cases these dangerous arachnids were kept in. Some kids leaned close, each gazing into different containers that held different spiders together. "These are some of them?" A girl asked, and the tour guide glanced at the cases. "These are supposed to be all of them, but maybe someone took one out for some extra testing?" She thought aloud to herself, but another question caught her attention. "What are these spiders even for?" Said a boy with a thick russian accent, unimpressed with the animals. "Well, we're mostly just testing genetics and modification with them! We're attempting to see how these modified spiders can live in situations they aren't normally meant to be in, and that research will help us in the future and see if there could be some vaccines that could help us thrive in warmer temperatures due to global warming." She said, looking at her clipboard for a second. "Anyone else have any questions that need answering?", and multiple people shook their heads or audibly said no. The kid that asked didn't say anything, but the boy next to him actually seemed somewhat interested in the spiders themselves. He continued to gaze at the creatures slowly walking around the different containers, minding their own business. He didn't even think about the supposedly 'missing' one, but he didn't realize it was right on him either. He didn't even feel his clothes move, the arachnid was as light as a feather despite the size of it. The size was almost a quarter, but its fangs were a fraction of a millimeter. Thin and sharp, it shoved its needle like teeth into the teen's bicep, making him jolt slightly from the sudden sting. He glanced down to where he felt the pain, seeing a black and almost red-like spider bite into him. Without thinking, he swatted at it, slapping it off his arm until it fell to the floor. His brain didn't make the connection, the missing radioactive spider.. this? He just didn't think about it and thought of it as a normal 'bug'. "Alejandro, come on, man!" His friend Aleksei called his name, catching Alejandro's attention. "My bad." He spoke, catching up with the rest of the group.

The rest of the band of juniors wandered throughout the research center, following their guide who seemed a little clueless at times but still enjoyed her company. Alejandro and Aleksei and two others in their group of 'immature' dudes would poke fun at the dumb stuff they were doing, while Alejandro just mostly ignored their comments as he would lean a bit too much into the activities. He found it fun, despite the slight warmth fluctuating around his bite.

"Alright, kids.. Thanks for stopping by, it was fun having you all!" The guide waved her goodbyes, watching the juniors board the school bus to head back to their school. Once everyone was seated, the bus took off into traffic. "Hey man, your arm's looking a little red." Aleksei spoke to Alejandro, his accent catching his attention as he was staring out the window. "What?- oh, this? Uh.. yeah, I don't know what happened with it either." Alejandeo chuckled somewhat, shrugging while looking at his bicep. "You itching or something?" Aleksei asked, and Alejandro hummed at the question. "Now that you mention it.. it was earlier... Eh, probably just a bug bite." He shrugged, not too concerned. He leaned against the wall of the jumpy bus, crossing his arms as he stared back out the window. Aleksei turned around, butting into their other two friends behind the two's seat.

Alejandro sighed, stepping off the bus and stuffing his hands into his pockets. "See you later." Alejandro told his friends before walking off on the sidewalk to head his way home through hell's kitchen. He sighed, feeling a bit alone, but he felt that often. The boys will just ask him for answers with homework later anyway in their group chat, he was often called the nerd out of the four anyway. He didn't take offense to it, and often made fun of himself, but it's kind of exhausting to just send pictures of the answers he got over and over.. it felt like his only use sometimes. He waited at signs, quickly crossed the road, and stopped by his and his father's apartment after the five minute walk.

Alejandro reached into his pocket, fishing for his apartment key. He unlocked the door upon finding it, walking in and closing the door behind him. "I'm home, papa." He told his father, sliding his backpack off his shoulder and hanging it up on a coat rack by the door. "Mhmm.." His father, Iwan, hummed from across the room. Alejandro sighed, scratching his head a little while approaching his father who sat in his chair, facing the turned off TV. "Dinner's whatever, I guess?" He asked his father, and he just nodded. "<Can you turn on the TV? I forgot to turn it on when I sat..>" Alejandro's father spoke in Spanish, and Alejandro sighed, nodding. "<...Sure.>" He responded, grabbing the remote that sat at a side table closer to him, pressing the on button and walking over, setting down the remote at the side table closest to Iwan. "Gracias, mijo." His father told him, and Alejandro nodded, heading into the kitchen and began to fix himself an early dinner. He had work this weekend, so he had to feed himself as much as he could before leaving early tomorrow. He looked through his fridge, grabbing some leftovers and reheating them. He grabbed a plate from the cabinet, placing the reheated food from the microwave onto the glass plate and took his food to his room.

He closed the door behind himself, setting the plate down at his small desk, sitting in his chair and trying to relax as much as he could while he ate and slacked off a little on his homework. He felt tired, school was always exhausting, but he felt more tired than normal. A little nap wouldn't hurt..

He ate his food at a steady pace, and after about an hour of some studying for math, he decided to go ahead and end the day a little early at 9PM. He crawled onto his smaller sized bed, taking off his shirt and leaving on his gym shorts. He laid on his side, wrapping the blanket around his body. He stared at the walls, trying his hardest to clear his head until he would fall asleep but that would take a little longer than he had hoped.

While he slept, he would occasionally scratch at his spider bite. He'd toss and turn, mumbling gibberish in his sleep. He felt immensely sweaty, panting hard as he felt like he was being shoved into an oven.

Once the sun's rays shone into his room, he groaned tiredly at the idea of getting up early for the morning to go work at some old pizza place down in midtown east. He moved a hand to rub his face, his body sore from.. something. He groaned as he slowly stood, moving his hand away from his eyes, seeing his messy room in front of him. He looked around in shock, seeing claw marks in his walls, his books thrown about, his chair on its side, it was like a tornado flew through here. He quickly went to fix his chair, setting it back upright and lifted his books that were off the shelves. He put his.. chewed up books back where they belonged. He stared at his hands, his vision looking up his arms, they were a little.. bigger, a slight bit hairier too. He held his breath for a moment in shock, tensing his muscles to see if he had grown a little muscle overnight. He was a little lean but not defined before, but now he was a little bit muscular. He knew puberty wouldn't get this overkill, but he already had gone through that anyway. He walked to the mirror that stood up against the wall, looking at his body that grew seemingly overnight. While moving his arms around and rubbing his arm muscle to help ease the soreness, he jumped at a sudden noise, almost a thud, against his mirror, seeing a reddish-white substance shoot from his wrist. He looked at the mirror, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he reached to touch the sticky substance, jumping at the texture. "What in the..?—" He mumbled, tensing his forearm muscle to do it again, the substance shooting from his wrist, but this time it stayed connected to his wrist, seeing a string come from and stick to the floor-mirror. He tried to quickly pull away the string from his wrist, but it wouldn't get out of him, pulling the mirror down from the string. He caught the mirror last second before it broke against the floor, sighing with relief. He pushed the mirror back to lean against the wall, pulling his wrist free with a light snap noise. He looked at the webbing-like texture of the substance he shot out. He realized what this was now, that spider.. the one that broke out? That was the same one that bit him. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't tell anyone about this, he'd be a freak. He glanced at a digital clock on his nightstand, seeing that he overslept. He whispered a curse, having to quickly get himself on the subway train to work. He dressed himself, trying to forget about this and get himself in the work mindset. He wore a black shirt and jeans, grabbed his backpack on the way out, and immediately took off to the nearest station.