Bant sat alone at his cluttered desk.
A brightly colored spider lay motionless atop his open physics textbook. One look was enough to know it was highly venomous.
But it was already dead, its stiff legs curling inward like a withered flower.
"The spider that bit Spider-Man."
He had obtained it from Oscorp just a few days ago.
Fifteen years earlier, Bant found himself transported into this world and became part of the Parker family. His name was Bant Parker.
He was the cousin of the now-famous Peter Parker. Though not the biological child of Uncle Ben and Aunt May, he had been adopted into their home and treated as family.
When Bant was ten, during a school field trip, he came across something extraordinary: the Omnitrix. To most, it looked like a strange, bulky wristwatch. But Bant knew its real name, and what it was truly capable of.
The original Omnitrix could connect to the genetic data stream of the artificial living planet known as Primus, allowing its wearer to transform into over a million intelligent alien species. It was meant to unify worlds, bridging the divide between races with the understanding of shared existence.
Azmuth had created it with a noble purpose: a Noah's Ark for endangered life across the universe.
But for reasons Bant still didn't understand, his Omnitrix had long since lost its connection to Primus. Its internal systems were completely silent. Dead. Empty.
If this world had been ordinary, he could have simply lived the life of a normal high school student.
But this was the Marvel Universe.
And now, Tony Stark had just announced to the world that he was Iron Man. The era of superheroes had begun.
Bant had no particular desire to become a hero. But living in New York, danger lurked around every corner. Power was not optional. It was survival.
So, when Peter was bitten by a genetically-altered spider and began to change, Bant had hoped for the same chance.
He hadn't wanted to steal Peter's destiny, nor take his role as Spider-Man. He simply wished to gain enough strength to protect himself and those he cared about.
But after biting Peter, the spider died instantly, as if its sole purpose was to choose one successor. One destiny.
"Maybe this is the power of the Spider-Totem. The web of fate that cannot be altered." Bant murmured.
He had neither the genetic compatibility nor the blessing of the Spider-Totem.
Even the Omnitrix remained unresponsive. It could not extract DNA from non-sapient organisms, nor transform its owner into another member of their own species. He had tried using strands of Peter's hair. It changed nothing.
Bant sighed, pinching the dead spider by one of its curled legs and lifting it to eye level.
"It seems I only have one option left."
What he was considering was reckless. Insane, even.
He remembered a comic storyline in which a desperate fan of Spider-Man had eaten a mutated spider corpse. The man had transformed into a monstrous creature, nothing left but skin wrapped around an endless colony of spiders.
But Bant had no choice.
"If I were just some ordinary kid living in New York, maybe I could accept being powerless. But I am Peter Parker's cousin."
Everyone knew how Peter's story went.
Becoming Spider-Man meant losing, over and over again. Those closest to him always suffered. Uncle Ben. Gwen. Others.
Bant would not allow himself to be one of those sacrifices. And he would not stand by while Peter walked headlong into tragedy.
He needed power.
And the Omnitrix, for all its silence, still held its most important protocol: genetic correction and host protection.
He had seen it in the cartoon. The watch had healed entire populations infected by genetic warfare. Restored lost forms. Purified corrupted DNA.
"If it works, the Omnitrix will correct the mutation instead of letting it consume me."
He looked down at the watch on his wrist.
Then drew in a breath.
And ate the spider.
Its stiff legs scraped at the inside of his mouth like broken needles, and for one terrible moment it felt like the spider had come back to life, its pieces crawling and clawing to escape.
Bant clamped a hand over his mouth, forcing himself to swallow.
The bitterness spread across his tongue like poison. His throat burned. The venom seared down through his chest.
His stomach twisted violently.
Pain exploded through him.
He collapsed, chair clattering backward as he struck the floor.
The transformation began.
His organs convulsed, as if thousands of spiders were chewing their way through him from the inside. Every heartbeat drove fire deeper into his veins.
His vision warped. His eyes filled with blood, veins spreading like crimson spiderwebs.
"Move... it has to work... please..."
His breath turned ragged and wet.
Footsteps creaked on the stairs outside his room.
A knock followed.
"Bant? Are you alright?" Aunt May called gently.
His body convulsed. His teeth sharpened. His voice died in his throat, replaced by a guttural rasp.
He wanted to warn her. To tell her to stay back.
But the hunger crashed over him like a tidal wave. A ravenous, violent urge. His skin rippled. Something inside was forcing its way out.
Six thin, wet spider limbs pushed from beneath his eyelids, shredding the flesh around his eyes.
"Your voice sounds like you're sick," Aunt May said worriedly, reaching for the doorknob.
"No..." Bant's mind screamed.
The door swung open.
Light flooded the room.
Just as the transformation was about to consume him completely, the Omnitrix flashed.
A pulse of emerald light surged through his body.
"Genetic contamination detected. Omnitrix initiating emergency override."
The light swallowed him whole.
Everything went white.