Alex's fingers trembled as he slowly popped the seal on the test tube.
Click.
The black, viscous mass inside didn't wait.
With a wet SKREEEEEEE! that could only be described as a cross between a war cry and a toddler stepping on a LEGO, the symbiote leaped out like a rubber band shot by an overcaffeinated squirrel.
"GAH!" Alex screamed as the gooey mass slammed into his chest like a living shadow tsunami.
It wasn't subtle. Or gentle. Or respectful of personal space.
In an instant, the symbiote exploded across his body like it had been dying for a host—and Alex, poor Alex, was the unlucky soul who was the first being it saw and was closest to it.
His clothes disintegrated in a blaze of harmless heat as the symbiote merged with his fire affinity, igniting like matchfire over gasoline.