A few hours later, after what seemed like an eternity of unconsciousness, he finally awoke from his slumber. His eyes snapped open abruptly and with alarm when he suddenly felt the presence of another person resting in his arms.
He instinctively held them tighter in case they turned out to be dangerous or posed some kind of threat to him. Looking down carefully to examine who it was, he realized with surprise that it was the girl in the spider costume from earlier that evening.
She still wore her costume, the fabric clinging to her form, but he could sense through his heightened awareness that she was awake and conscious. The distinctive scent she'd been giving off earlier, the one that had drawn him to her, had finally disappeared completely.
He slowly and carefully let go of his grip on her and stood to his full imposing height over her smaller frame. The place on her shoulder where he had bitten her during their encounter still bore a visible mark, evidence of what had transpired.
She began to stand too, rising to her feet with caution. She looked at him warily and with obvious suspicion for a long moment before he made his move and tore through the webs that surrounded them, leaving the scene without looking back in her direction.
But for some reason that he couldn't quite explain or understand, he felt a strange resistance and reluctance leaving her vicinity and her presence. A new connection had formed between them without either of them fully knowing or comprehending what it meant.
Penny grasped the shoulder where she'd been bitten, her fingers pressing against the tender spot. It began to ache with a dull, persistent pain, though she didn't understand why it was happening or what it signified.
After running some considerable distance away from where they had been, moving quickly through the shadows, he began to feel a distinct presence following him. He looked back over his shoulder and realized with certainty that it was the same girl from before.
For some reason that defied logical explanation, he could feel her presence as clearly as if she were standing right beside him, though he couldn't understand why this connection existed. He turned back around in the direction he'd been heading and went to find a suitable place to sleep for the night.
After running across the rooftops for quite a while, leaping from building to building with practiced ease, he eventually stopped at what looked like an abandoned warehouse that seemed suitable for shelter.
Looking around carefully in all directions and seeing no one in the vicinity who might disturb him, he entered through a broken window. The place was bare and dirty, covered in dust and debris from years of neglect. He walked to a corner of the large empty space, made a cocoon from his webbing, then jumped into it and closed it around himself, falling asleep quietly and peacefully.
Meanwhile, at the same time across the city, Penny was back in her room in her family's home. The experience she'd just been through had shaken her deeply, leaving her unsettled. Laying on her bed and staring at the ceiling, she sighed heavily.
For some reason she couldn't explain or rationalize, she could sense that person's presence even from this distance. Rubbing her shoulder where the bite mark remained, she winced noticeably. It still hurt with a sharp, stinging sensation.
"Penny, you have school tomorrow—you better not be on those devices again," a woman's voice called from outside her room, likely from the hallway. The voice was filled with genuine love and maternal affection.
"Okay, I'm going to sleep," she called back in response.
She sighed again and pulled up her blanket, drawing it close to her chin. The thought of taking a bath to wash off the night's events crossed her mind briefly, but she was far too tired and exhausted from tonight's events to make the effort.
She yawned deeply and began to drift off into sleep, her eyes slowly closing as consciousness faded. Unbeknownst to her and without her awareness, a strange mark began to form and take shape on her shoulder where she'd been bitten.
At SHIELD headquarters in their operations center, Nick Fury stood watching the surveillance video footage of his target with intense focus. Multiple agents were gathered around watching the same footage on various monitors.
"What's wrong with the kid?" he asked with concern in his voice, watching intently as Adam pounced on a girl in a hero costume during the recorded incident.
It didn't take long for SHIELD to find Adam and locate his position—they had access to satellites and highly advanced tracking technology that made surveillance relatively easy.
"I've done some personal research on this situation, and what I found is truly interesting and worth your attention," she said professionally, passing him a thick document containing all of her findings and analysis.
A woman stepped forward from the group of agents. She was none other than Nick Fury's trusted secretary and right hand, Maria Hill.
He took the documents and read through them carefully, then began to rub his chin thoughtfully as he processed the information. What he was reading was truly interesting and had significant implications.
Maria had done more than just research his past history or study other mutants and their abilities. She had gone above and beyond her normal duties to research extensively the specific insects he was a mutant of, diving deep into their biology and behavior.
And what she found through her thorough investigation was absolutely fascinating from a scientific standpoint. A female spider releases a specific pheromone that signals and attracts other males of the species. Maria assumed based on her research that Penny had unknowingly been releasing a similar pheromone that only another spider or spider-based being could smell and detect.
Since she'd had her powers for only a few months and was still learning to control them, Fury and Maria were genuinely glad and relieved that Adam could control himself and his instincts to some degree. But what was even more interesting and concerning was the fact that during mating in the spider world, a female spider would typically eat the male after the act was completed.
But things took a different and unexpected turn in this case. They aren't just ordinary spiders following normal biological patterns. One is a mutant with innate abilities, and the other got their powers from being bitten by a radioactive spider in a lab accident.
But that still wasn't enough to explain everything—it was the significant fact that Adam was physically stronger and more powerful than a typical male spider. Usually the male would die after mating according to natural spider behavior, but now with these enhanced abilities it might be different and the outcome could vary.
That still wasn't all they had observed in their surveillance. Watching the live surveillance camera feeds, they could see Adam currently positioned on a rooftop somewhere in the city, silently watching Penny as she fought crime and dealt with street-level criminals.
"It seems he's calmed down for some reason," Fury observed, noting the change in behavior.
The moment he'd entered New York City for the first time, three thugs had tried to mug him on a dark street. It was a very bad idea on their part—he killed them all brutally and then ate their bodies.
At first when reviewing the footage they thought he was simply a crazed cannibal driven by hunger, but upon closer analysis it seemed like more than that, like there was a purpose. After taking a bite of each of the thugs' bodies, he paused for a long moment as if processing something before walking away from the scene.
They looked back at the surveillance cameras in the secure facility where he'd been trapped and held captive, and watched the footage as he killed and ate his first human victim. They kept watching as he continued to eat—until he dissapeared in that cave for a month.
His body changed noticeably and bulked up significantly, muscles expanded and form shifting. They understood then through careful observation that as he ate different creatures, he would gain new physical characteristics or get stronger and more capable.
He could evolve at an exponential rate that was unprecedented in their experience. But he wouldn't continue to eat if it no longer benefited him or provided new advantages. What they still didn't know and couldn't determine was whether it was just the physical body and attributes he absorbed, or if he could potentially absorb others' powers and abilities as well.
"I think we have a way to control him and keep him in check," Maria said thoughtfully, looking directly at Penny in the video footage.
Fury nodded slowly in agreement with her assessment.
"Get Agent Clint Barton," he said quietly but with unmistakable authority and firmness in his tone.
In New York City, Adam stood perched on a rooftop overlooking the streets below and watched carefully as Penny began to fight crime and take down criminals. He had been following her and tracking her movements for the past few days, trying to find out and understand why he could feel such a strong and inexplicable connection between them that he couldn't ignore.
He had only managed to gather and obtain basic information about her through his observations. Her name was Penny Park. She lives with her aunt in a modest home in the city. She attends the school of science and technology as a student.
She is currently 14 years old and about to turn 15 in the near future. They were about the same age, which he found interesting. He watched intently as she webbed up some thugs who had been causing trouble on the street below, her movements swift and precise.
He didn't know if she was a mutant like himself or not since she had a distinctly different scent from other mutants he'd encountered before. Standing up from his crouched position, he headed back in the direction of the warehouse that he had chosen and claimed as his base of operations.
Running and leaping across the rooftops with practiced agility and speed, he was completely unaware that Penny had noticed him watching her from above. She began to follow him, keeping a safe distance behind. The moment she started following him, he immediately sensed it through their strange connection.
Since they could sense each other's location and presence no matter the distance between them, he could already notice everything she was doing and every move she made, but he didn't stop his movement or try to lose her. He continued running steadily towards his base, maintaining his pace.
He made sure to go a little slower than his usual speed so she could keep up with him and wouldn't lose his trail. He wanted to know more about her, to understand who she was and what this connection between them truly meant.
After approximately five minutes of running and navigating through the urban landscape, he finally arrived at his destination. He opened the large, heavy doors of the warehouse with ease and entered the dark space without bothering to close the entrance behind him.
Penny looked down from her vantage point on a nearby rooftop and looked around the area carefully, surveying the surroundings for any signs of danger or activity. Seeing nothing immediately threatening or suspicious, she jumped down from her elevated position and headed cautiously towards the warehouse building. Slowly and sneakily, moving with careful deliberation, she entered through the open doorway. But as she looked around the interior space, taking in her surroundings, it looked completely barren, empty, and dirty from years of abandonment and neglect.
But in a corner of the vast empty place, off to one side, she could see a huge cocoon made of webbing similar to her own. Then she froze completely in place, her body going rigid when she suddenly realized she didn't see Adam anywhere in the warehouse despite knowing he had just entered moments before.
Her spider senses finally tingled urgently, warning her of immediate danger, and she took an instinctive step back away from where she'd been standing. She then stopped abruptly in her tracks when her back hit something solid and unyielding behind her.
It felt completely immovable, like hitting a wall of solid muscle and strength. She slowly and hesitantly turned around, moving with trepidation, and looked up at him towering above her smaller frame. She gulped nervously, her throat tightening when she saw his intense red eyes staring down at her with an unreadable expression.
"Uh, hi?" She whispered quietly, her voice barely audible in the cavernous space, unsure of what else to say in this tense moment.
He moved past her and closed the huge door behind him with a heavy thud that echoed through the warehouse, sealing them inside together. He then began to sniff her carefully, his nose moving close to her as he inhaled her scent. Now that he had another chance and opportunity to examine her up close, he tried earnestly to understand what she was and where her powers came from.
She smelled like a normal human being for the most part, but for some inexplicable reason there was another distinct scent layered underneath that he couldn't understand or identify, something that puzzled him greatly.
She blushed deeply from behind the mask that covered her face, feeling self-conscious and vulnerable under his intense scrutiny. He began to walk in a slow circle around her, methodically inspecting her figure from every angle with keen interest. He didn't know why or understand the reason, but for some inexplicable reason he began to feel a growing sense of excitement building within him.
"Uhm, who are you?" she asked nervously, her voice trembling slightly with uncertainty and apprehension.
He didn't answer her question at all and kept inspecting her with intense focus, continuing his methodical examination. Then he stopped his movement and positioned himself right in front of her, looking straight and directly at her mask with unwavering attention.
He slowly and deliberately moved his hand forward, reaching out toward her face as he tried to rip off the mask that concealed her identity. But she jumped back quickly and agilely, stopping him in his tracks before he could complete the action.
His hands stopped midair, frozen in surprise at her quick reflexes and reaction time. Then quickly and with lightning speed, he moved forward and grabbed her firmly before she could fully react to his sudden movement or escape from his grasp.
He could see clearly that she was moving and attempting to avoid his grip, but despite her efforts she was too slow compared to his enhanced speed and reflexes. But what impressed him was that she had extremely good senses, an awareness that seemed supernatural in nature.
Her sensory abilities were actually better and more refined than his own, which was quite remarkable and noteworthy. He wondered curiously to himself if he took a bite of her, would he be able to get and absorb her abilities as well, just like he had with other creatures.
Before, when they had first encountered each other, he had just inserted his fangs into her shoulder. If he took an actual piece of her flesh and consumed it, maybe he could get enough of her genetic material to acquire and gain her abilities and powers.
He then reached up and tore off her mask completely, removing it from her face so he could look at her features more closely and examine them in detail. Before he had only stared at her from a distance across the room, but now they were extremely close to each other, face to face.
She had mid length black hair that framed her face nicely, dark black eyes that were wide with fear and surprise, and a cute face with delicate features. From her appearance and facial structure, she seemed to be of Japanese descent as well, which he noted mentally.
But he decided quickly not to focus on her ethnic background or her appearance right now. Instead, he went back to examining the shoulder area that he had previously bitten during their earlier encounter, and moved her costume fabric away carefully to reveal her bare skin underneath.
He paused for a long moment, his eyes catching sight of what appeared to be a tattoo of a spider marked on her skin. The marking was small but distinct, clearly visible against her shoulder. However, he decided to ignore it completely and dismiss it from his mind, his focus remaining on his original intention. He opened his mouth wide and prepared himself mentally to take a bite of her flesh.
Peni's eyes widened dramatically in shock and horror at what was about to happen.
"Stop!!!??" She screamed loudly, her voice filled with desperation and panic.
Suddenly and without warning, pheromones began to emit and release from her body in waves. These were different from the ones she had released last time during their previous encounter. Adam completely froze in place, his entire body becoming rigid and still, no longer listening to his own will or commands from his mind.
Her pupils shaking and trembling with fear and uncertainty, she looked straight at him, staring directly into his frozen face. She breathed heavily and rapidly, her chest heaving as she tried desperately to get out of his iron grip, but it was completely impossible no matter how hard she struggled.
Adam's strength was far too strong and overpowering for her to break free from.
"Let go," she begged him desperately, her voice breaking with emotion.
His body unconsciously and involuntarily let go of her, releasing his grip without any conscious thought on his part, and she immediately took multiple steps back away from him. Creating as much distance as she could between them, she looked straight at Adam with wide, frightened eyes.
But she realized with growing confusion that he had completely frozen in place, standing perfectly still like a statue.
"What have you done to me?" He growled menacingly, his voice deep and threatening, and his pupils seemed to have reddened even further than before, glowing with an intense crimson light.
Confusion and bewilderment entered her mind as she tried to process and understand what was happening. But remembering clearly what had just happened moments ago and the effect her words seemed to have, she spoke up with more confidence.
"Lay down," she said clearly and firmly, her voice steady despite her racing heart.
Without any hesitation whatsoever, he immediately laid down flat on the hard floor, his body obeying her command instantly.
"What the hell is this!!" He shouted loudly in anger and frustration, his voice echoing through the warehouse.
Her eyes widened in surprise and amazement at what she was witnessing. A deep sigh of relief escaped and left her lips as she realized she had some kind of control over him.
"What were you planning to do just now?" She asked him directly, wanting to know his true intentions.
He didn't answer her question at all and continued struggling against the invisible force that held him, fighting against her control with all his willpower. But as time went on and minutes passed, he realized and understood that whatever scent and pheromones she was releasing into the air was becoming progressively weaker and less potent.
She could also notice and observe the same thing as he began to move slightly and regain small amounts of control over his body, even though she wasn't giving any orders or commands. She gulped nervously, her throat dry, and ran as fast as she could toward the door, knowing that this whole place had been webbed up thoroughly and sealed.
There was only one entrance and exit to the entire warehouse. Arriving at the door, she tried desperately to open it and push it outward, but then she realized with growing horror that she couldn't open it at all. Looking slowly and carefully down at the door frame, she could see thick webbing covering and sealing the entrance completely. She tried with all her might to destroy it and break through, but it was completely useless and futile.
The webs were far too strong and resilient, refusing to break or tear. She tried using all her strength and power, pulling and tearing at them with everything she had, but it still wasn't enough to make even the slightest difference. Then suddenly and unexpectedly, she began to hear footsteps approaching from behind her.
Fear creeping in and overwhelming her senses, she began to slam her hands frantically against the heavy doors with all her strength, pounding desperately, not daring to look back over her shoulder to see what was coming.
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