Insect Man

The tale of Insect Man is a terrifying story of human experimentation, gone horribly wrong, resulting in an unfathomably grotesque abomination. It is about Ethan Clarke, an American scientist who was obsessed with comic books, more specifically; super hero comics were what he adored above anything else. Ever since he was a child, he always fantasised about having super powers and paranormal abilities, like those of flight or telekinesis. It seemed impossible, but that was until he saw the American body builders. Huge men and women, who could carry tree trunks above their shoulders, throw huge tires like frisbees and sprint in marathons for hours without getting exhausted. The human body can really achieve a lot of amazing feats, but not even the strongest, healthiest or fastest athlete on earth could match the sheer brilliance of a cosmic god from the pages of a classic comic book. So Ethan became a man of science, after reading stories about those who got powers through medical experimentation. He knew many super villains who got scarier powers by this method, such as an antagonist who remained permanently frozen, or an electricity powered monster, who needed batteries to stay alive. Of course, all of these stories were silly and over the top, but they still served as cautionary tales of science gone wrong. Ethan was well aware of this fact, as even real life experiments often resulted in horror, if not properly studied or administered correctly. So he had to be careful when attempting to create a real life super powered human, the idea was to enhance the biology of a man or woman, then hopefully the result would mean reaching extraordinary abilities unlike anything we've ever seen before.

The first trials were rats, he would drug them with an insane amount of supplements, hoping it would make the rats stronger. This had mixed results. Most of them were killed in this experiment, while the minority of them had short bursts of energy, that ended with the rats feeling tired and lazy by the end. It was a disappointing failure, but Ethan refused to give up.

His second attempt at giving rats powers was actually a success! In this experiment, he had studied the abilities of different bugs. The flight of winged insects. The speed and climbing abilities of Spiders and the strength of Ants. All of which fascinated him and the idea of a human lifting a thousand times their weight, a man running faster than light or a woman climbing a tower so effortlessly; it excited him greatly. Just picturing these feats within his mind was enticing to say the least, he couldn't wait to get started. The trial rats were given the blood of several insects, all of which had the best abilities. In a matter of weeks, the rats were running around so fast they were a blur, they could climb their cages like monkeys and cling to the ceiling by webs. The rats had insect like abilities and they didn't look at all different. There were no visible side effects and only a couple of them died, mostly due to the rats falling from heights when their climbing or webs failed to keep them up. He presumed a human would be more careful and never put themselves in so much danger in the first place. He grinned and danced excitedly, eager to begin human testing. The other scientists warned him to wait several months, before human trials, as they suspected the rats may change or become seriously ill. Yet, the anticipation couldn't wait. Ethan was mere weeks away from discovering human super powers, he was so determined, he ignored his doubts entirely and went ahead and experimented on himself, secretly without telling anyone.

Just as he predicted, he no longer needed to drive to work, instead sprinting at incredible speeds to the laboratory and he never even broke a sweat. It was incredible and exhilarating. It became evident to everyone that he had indeed experimented upon himself, thankfully nobody else was so eager to insert insect blood into their veins just yet. Outside of work, Ethan took up rock climbing and everyone there was beyond impressed. He could climb faster than even the most experienced trainers there, he didn't even bother wearing a harness, as he felt beyond confident climbing these structures. It seemed Ethan Clarke had finally reached his lifetime dream of achieving real life super powers, and there didn't seem to be any bad side effects at all. That was until the wind caught his eyes, causing him to tear up, only the tears were sticky and white, like webs. They weren't liquid, they glued his eyes open in a painful and awkward position. He pulled at them and shook in terror, as spider webs seemed to have emitted from his eyes. Thankfully he was able to clear them from his eyelids and blink like normal again, although occasionally he struggled to open them fully. It was a concerning side effect, but he was certain he could overcome it.

"After all, every super hero has his drawbacks!" He laughed, desperately trying to reassure himself. Only his side effects got worse instead of better. This was when people gave Ethan the nickname; Insect Man, for what appeared to be maggots would flake from his hair like dandruff. Many of these little white works would hatch, revealing pink skinned flies who resembled tiny babies, but with multiple eyes and wings. Eventually this is how Ethan would begin to look, as his eyes turned into green crystals, that had eight different pupils. Long spiky hairs grew out of his back and fingers, even his beard began to look pointy like a bee's stinger. He suddenly craved sugar and chocolate and the man went crazy, going so far as to attack a random woman, trying to suck her blood. Police were called to the scene and couldn't believe the monster they had seen, Ethan had completely transformed into some hideous insect humanoid, even his skin had turned an ugly green colour. The scientist was shot down on sight, he had lost his mind entirely and was barely even human anymore. Even his family thanked the police for ending his suffering, it was the humane thing to do. As for the woman he sucked the blood from, she too began to transform, but was put down before her insect mind took over.