No Crippling Medical Debt? That's Rare

(Elijah's apartment, that night)

After talking with Gwen for about half an hour, I thanked her for helping me and began to make my way home. I had slept for almost 14 hours, so it was now night-time. I opened the door to my apartment, and walked in. I went to the bathroom to wash my face, only to notice something was off. I looked at myself for another 30 seconds before realizing what it was.

"...Am I taller?"

I was 5'11 last time I checked. I took a tape measure out of my drawer and measured myself. I was 6'1. I was pretty sure I had already gone through puberty, so this was really weird. 

'Probably just a growth spurt'

(A/N: I decided to change the format, 'this is a thought' from now on)

I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed my sleeping clothes from my closet. I took off my shirt, glanced at the mirror and dropped my clothes. I was pretty built, but I now looked like I had half the body fat I used to. Each muscle was defined like it was chiseled out of marble, and my 6-pack was now a defined 8-pack of abs.

"What the fuck..."

Did I do nothing but ab crunches the entire time I was unconscious? No, that's not possible, Gwen would have called me out on it for being weird. But then what...wait, the spider bite. That's the only thing that happened today that was out of the ordinary. Hold on a fucking minute, didn't spider-woman say something about a radioactive spider-bite giving her those powers... there's no way, right?

I turned around and faced a wall. I slowly put my hand on it and tensed my fingers. I tried to pull my hand off, and nothing happened. Well, shit. I relaxed my hand and it came off the wall. I then put both hands on the wall, and then both feet, and slowly crawled up the wall and onto the ceiling, standing on it up-side down.

"...Well, I'll be damned"

I hopped off the ceiling and back onto the ground. I decided to just change my clothes and go get Natasha's help tomorrow morning. I'd just call in sick to school. Don't think they'd be opposed to it considering I passed out on their field trip yesterday. I did my nightly routine and lay on my bed, slowly drifting off to sleep.

~~~~

???: Four spiders in one web? How very unusual. And one amongst them has a troubled past, and a rapidly changing future. Will he fall, or will he fly? It seems only time will tell. Well, at least he shall provide a semblance of entertainment. I look forward to seeing your story unfold, Elijah Cole.

~~~~

I woke up in a cold sweat. What was that? It was the most soothing voice I had ever heard, but it was also terrifying. It was accompanied with so many strange images. A giant web, a huge temple with statues of spiders adorning it, and a humongous spider at the center of it all. Every time I tried to remember it, my head began to ache, so I decided to dismiss it as just a weird dream. I looked at the clock and saw it was 9am. I got out of bed and brushed my teeth and had some breakfast. Scrambled eggs with toast. Thank you, Youtube tutorials. I called in to school to inform them that I was sick and would be taking the day off, and then began to make my way towards the Avengers tower.

(Avenger's tower, 30 mins later)

Natasha: "You got bit by a what?"

"Like I've already said 5 times, a radioactive spider"

Natasha: "Where'd you find a radioactive spider? Chernobyl?"

"That's what I said! And no, It found me at Oscorp"

Natasha: "Why the hell does Oscorp have radioactive spiders?"

"I don't know, ask them! Look, can we just do a DNA test and see what the fuck is going on?"

"Alright, wait here, I'll bring someone" She said, walking towards the elevator. I looked around while I was waiting for her to return. The place was just as grand as last time. I wouldn't mind living here at all. It had a massive TV, a training room and a gym. All of them things that I could very much get used to.

I heard the elevator ding and turned around to see Natasha walk out with a dude in a labcoat and glasses. They walked up to me and I shook his hand firmly.

Natasha: "Elijah, this is Dr. Bruce Banner. Dr. Banner, this is Elijah Cole, your patient for today"

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Banner"

Bruce: "Please, Bruce is fine. Nat told me about your problem. Genetics isn't my field of study, per se, but I know quite a bit about it for personal reasons."

"Well, I'm in your care for now, Doc." We went up to the lab I had been in before. Bruce took all sorts of cotton swabs, blood samples and other tests. After half an hour, the results were ready, and judging by his expression, it was quite something.

Bruce: "Incredible. Complete molecular change in the DNA structure. It's as if you became half spider overnight. And not just any one type. Brown recluse spider, Darwin's bark spider, and...a huntsman spider, among others. It's honestly a feat of genetic engineering. There's all sorts of different traits that you could have inherited, but only some seem to be active. Do me a favour, clench your jaw downwards and tense your cheeks."

I did as he said and my canines popped out to form what seemed to be fangs.

"Huh, that's new."

"You inherited the necrotic venom from the Brown recluse spider. You administer it into your prey through ducts in your fangs. And they seem to be retractable. That may be the human influence on the spider genetics. Also, you have web ducts on both your fingers and your wrists. Darwin's Bark spider is known for it's incredible web weaving abilities, after all. I've seen spider-woman on the news, and I believe she may have undergone a similar process, but she weaves a single web from her wrists. You, on the other hand, could be able to create 12 strands at a time. Making an entire web instantly would be a piece of cake if you get used to it." He said with a glint in his eyes. I guess geneticist or not, all science interests him to a staggering degree.

"And then there's the huntsman spider DNA" he continued. "They are known to sit in the shadows and pounce on their pray with explosive speed and deadly accuracy. An ambush specialist, if you will. I believe inheriting it's genes resulted in a substantial increase in your speed, Further testing is required to fully evaluate it. Judging by all of this, your new abilities would be best used as an assassin. Sit on a web above your enemies and pounce on them when the time is right, maybe even use your venom for a quiet takedown. I believe that fits your MO, according to what Natasha told me."

I sat there and drank it all in. He was right about these powers fitting my MO. After all, I was named the Huntsman because I was so similar to the Huntsman spider. I sit in the shadows and wait for my target to be at it's most vulnerable, before taking them out quickly and efficiently. At least, I used to. I have no idea how this ties in to the whole hero thing, because this skillset seems pretty deadly.

Maybe I can reduce how lethal my venom is? I'll have to train myself to make sure I don't kill anyone by mistake. This is gonna be a pain in the ass. Maybe I can ask that Spider-woman for help.

"Thanks for the help, Doc. What do I owe ya?"

Bruce: "Anytime, kid. And you don't owe me anything. Just be careful out there, alright?"

"Will do, Doc. No promises" I said, walking out of the lab after waving bye at both of them.

I walked out the front door of the tower and started to make my way home.

"Time to track down Spider-woman and maybe ask for her help"

End of Chapter 13~

Hey there! I just wanted to let y'all know I probably won't be releasing this story daily anymore. I mean, I'll try, but I don't want to burn out and make the story bad. I want to enjoy making it and take my time. So updates will either be everyday or every 2 days, depending on how busy I am and how easy the writing is flowing. Thanks for the support, see ya next time!