"Hey, kid, are you alright?.. Kid?" Someone called out shaking Erik's body in an attempt to wake him up.
Quickly a crowd began to gather around the nine-year-old boy who had suddenly collapsed and was now convulsing on the floor.
'Should I take him outside?' The man wondered noticing the space around them growing more and more constricted as the crowd pressed in.
But just as the man was about to lift him, Erik slowly began to regain consciousness.
"Oh, thank God! Are you okay, son?" the man asked, relief flooding his voice.
Erik blinked, disoriented as he looked around. "What happened?" He asked, confusion evident in his tone.
"You fainted, that's what happened! Are you sure you're okay?" Another person in the crowd chimed in.
"Yeah, I'm alright" The boy muttered as he slowly stood up.
Seems like you got bit by that spider. Said the first man with a worried expression.
A spider ? Erik muttered looking at the dead spider on the ground before putting his hand over his chest where it had bitten him.
"Where are your parents?" The man asked, helping him to his feet. "We should call th..."
"No need to worry, I'm fine.." Erik insisted.
"Are they here?" The guy pressed.
"I said, I'm alright!" He snapped, his voice firm.
"Fuck, my head..." Murmured Erik wincing in pain. "Everything is so fucking loud in here! I need to get out of this place."
"Wait!" Said the man reaching out with his hand to grab Erik's arm.
But just then, a tingling sensation surged through Erik head and his body instinctively shifted to the side narrowly avoiding the man's grasp.
Both of them froze, surprised by the sudden movement.
Without wasting another moment, Erik began pushing through the crowd shoving people aside as he tried to escape the building.
Once outside, he took a deep breath of fresh air trying to calm himself down.
"What is happening to me?" He wondered, his voice a little shaky.
"Everything is so bright... I can see details from so far away. And the sound... I hear everything. It's like all my senses have been cranked up a hundred times."
Unbeknownst to Erik at that very moment, two familiar figures entered the university grounds searching for him.
The two men scanned the area, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Suddenly, Lei tapped Jason's chest with the back of his fist nodding towards the entrance of the exhibition building.
"Isn't that him?" Lei asked.
"Where?" Jason replied, surprised.
"Right there, look! It's him. Seems like luck as Fallen upon us !" He said, already starting to run toward the boy.
"Huh, again?" Erik muttered as that familiar tingling sensation flared in his head. He glanced toward the entrance and spotted Lei and Jason charging in his direction.
"Tch!" He cursed, immediately turning and sprinting toward the other side.
"I intended to go back anyway, but let's waste their @#$ing time !" Erik muttered to himself, glancing over his shoulder.
He saw the two men struggling to catch up even though he wasn't even running at full speed yet.
"Come on guys, why are you even running after me for?" Erik called out sarcastically, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth as he easily kept his distance.
"Erik, you better stop running you little shit!" Yelled Jason, his voice tinged with anger.
"You're only making things worse for yourself boy!" Lei added more calmly but with a hint of warning in his tone.
Erik shot a look of mock disgust over his shoulder.
"You guys aren't even my type, and I'm nine years old, you creeps!" He shouted back, his face twisted in a exaggerated revulsion. Mocking them.
The remark drew a few curious stares from passersby, and Jason felt his face flush with a mix of anger and embarrassment. "You... Erik.." He growled through clenched teeth, struggling to keep his composure.
"The world is vast, you know. You shouldn't be so heartbroken over one rejection." Erik taunted, flipping his middle finger toward Jason with a smirk.
After nearly ten minutes of running. He took a sharp left turn, momentarily disappearing from the sight of the two men chasing him.
But as he rounded the corner, he realized he had run straight into a dead end.
He paused, considering his options.
He wasn't tired at all and could easily keep going surprisingly, but instead he decided to raise his hands in resignation. A smile playing on his lips.
"I..." Erik was about to declare his surrender when Jason's frantic voice interrupted him.
"Where did he go?" He muttered, looking around him. "It's a dead end—he has to be hiding somewhere."
Lei nodded, starting to search the area..
Erik, standing right in front of them, waved his hand baffled.
"What the hell is going on?" He muttered to himself, completely unseen by the men who should have been staring right at him.
After a few minutes of fruitless searching. The two men exchanged frustrated glances and decided to continue their search elsewhere, leaving the alley behind.
"Whoa!" Erik whispered to himself watching as his body shifted from invisibility back to visibility. "Is this... The camouflage ability that scientist was talking about?"
Realization dawned on him, and without thinking Erik reached out to the wall in front of him.
His hand made contact with the rough surface and—just like that—it stuck. He stared in awe, pulling slightly and feeling the resistance confirming his newfound ability.
"No way." He whispered excitement washing over him.
After a few attempts, Erik managed to take his hand off the wall.
He flexed his fingers, feeling the tingling sensation that lingered in his palm.
A wide grin spread across his face as the reality of his new abilities settled in.
"This is gonna be fun." He murmured, the excitement in his voice undeniable.
"Camouflage, huh? Looks like I got some particular Spider-Man's powers too"
Curious, Erik glanced at his hands. "Can I...?"
He closed his eyes, concentrating, trying to summon the bio-electricity he'd read about in the comics.
After a few seconds, he cracked open one eye, but nothing happened.
"Guess it doesn't work like that." He shrugged, deciding to save that experiment for later.
For a moment, Erik considered scaling the building to test his newfound abilities.
The thought of climbing up the wall excited him, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
"I don't need the SHIELD, Hydra or whoever—getting wind of this and dragging me off for some twisted experiment." He muttered to himself. "Better keeping this shit low key"
Erik glanced left and right, ensuring the coast was clear. Once he was certain the two men weren't around, he took off running with a grin.