Been wanting to do something new for Librarians, finally came upon the idea for this one-shot collection after rewatching a few episodes, plus that scene when Jenkins and Flynn reveal they keep a sun in the sun room. Kinda made me wonder- what else is lurking in the library? Each will be roughly independent of each other.
This particular chapter was inspired by one of my favorite funny scenes from the beginning of the episode And the Cost of Education. Just read the title, you will know exactly which scene.
Enjoy.
"Come on, it can't be that bad, Stone."
"Jones, you didn't see them. It's that bad." Jake eyed the hallway that was their goal, not unlike one would do if there was some horrible monster lurking.
Oh wait… there was one!
"All we have to do is pop a few of these babies off and we're good." Jones shot back, brandishing the cans Jenkins had given them.
"Yeah sure, but you gotta actually get into the room to do it!" Jake wasn't a coward by no measure. But this was something he really, really didn't want to do or go near. Minotaurs, evil cultists, dragons even, sure those were fine. But not this, no sir.
"I don't believe it, Jacob Stone, bar fight master and librarian is afraid of a few bugs!" Jones degenerated into a fit of howling laughter at Jake's expense.
"Numbers ain't part of the problem!"
"You're still chicken."
There was a time Jake would have not taken that lying down, but this was Jones. Taking it personally would be just playing into the thief's hands. Jones really didn't need the ego boost.
"What's going on guys?" Of course, Cassandra had to choose now to appear. Jake may not care about how he looks in front of his fellow librarians, but that didn't mean he wanted to look bad in front of their female colleague.
"Stone here is afraid of a few bugs sitting pretty in the occult section. Won't go near it." Jones answered before Jake could open his mouth. "Jenkins wants us to bug blast them."
"I didn't say I was afraid of them!" Jake resisted the urge to smack Jones in the back of the head with one of their cans. "I just said we need to be careful going in. These are not ordinary spiders."
"Or we can go in guns blazing." Jones brandished a can in each hand. "Piece of cake."
Jake was about to say more, but Jones wasn't listening and instead walked off toward the occult section. Both cans up like he was playing a video game, and not a look back.
"Oh boy, this is not gonna end well." Jake cringed.
"Why's that?" Cassandra tilted her head slightly to turn her gaze on Jake.
"Well, he didn't give me a chance to explain. You see the spiders…"
A loud shriek cut Jake off, followed quickly by one Ezekiel Jones sprinting down the hallway at full speed. He would have barreled right into Cassandra had Jake not seized the redhead by the hips to pull her aside. Jones didn't even say a word to his coworkers, he just kept running until he disappeared from sight.
Jake rolled his eyes. "Tried to warn him, not ordinary spiders."
"I know they're big, but that shouldn't be that big a deal." Cassandra watched their friend flee in utter bewilderment. "It takes quite a bit to scare Ezekiel."
"What part of 'not ordinary spiders' is nobody getting?" Jake pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Hmm…" Cassandra started off toward the way Jones ran from.
"Uh, Cassie? Whatcha doing?"
"I want to see these spiders for myself."
Jake groaned as loud as he could without Cassandra hearing it. Curse his southern gentlemanly ways… he couldn't possibly let her go by herself.
It didn't take long for the pair to reach the door that led to their destination. The infestation had been confined to a few shelves the last time Jake had seen it, but he had a sneaky feeling it had grown. Fortunately, it was in a room with a door. As long as the door was left closed, the spiders could spread only so far.
Before Jake could warn her, Cassandra took hold of the knob and flung the door open.
The first thing to greet them was an almost literal wall of webbing. Jake could barely gaze past it to see the whole room was indeed covered in the sticky substance. Just like he thought, they had indeed spread out from the occult section, but were confined to the one room.
"Wow." Cassandra tried to look around the room without poking her head in. "Little guys' have been busy."
Next thing they knew, a single lone spider slowly lowered from the ceiling to hang midair in front of them. The arachnid was easily three times the size of a basketball, but that wasn't the truly weird part.
"MMMM… THIS ONE LOOKS TASTY." The spider croaked out.
Jake didn't hesitate to slam the door shut.
"Did… that spider just talk?" Cassandra meanwhile looked like she'd been slapped silly.
"Yup."
Cassandra reopened the door to the sound of a different spider talking. "I WANT THE RED ONE!"
Jake couldn't shove the door shut fast enough.
"And they… want to eat us?" Cassandra was still staring at the sealed portal.
"Yup."
"We must have misheard." For reasons Jake could not fathom, Cassandra opened the door again. He certainly knew they were hearing just fine.
"FRESH MEAT! FRESH MEAT!" Came the chorus of sounds behind the spider. It was hard for Jake to tell, but there must have been at least a dozen of the critters hidden about.
Jake slammed the door shut yet again, while Cassandra's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
Truth be told, talking and man eating spiders didn't really rank very high on Jake's strange-meter. If they were nesting in the library, they had to be magic in nature. As if the size wasn't enough of a giveaway. Jake could really do without the eating people part, but hey, this was the library. Occupational hazard as per usual.
"So how are we supposed to get them out?" Cassandra finally took her eyes off the door to face Jake.
"That's what I was trying to tell Jones." Jake sighed. "We need to come up with a plan."
"Wait, I have an idea." Jake wanted to yell when Cassandra opened the door for the third time. "Uhh… Mr. Spiders?"
"YES?" Came the multiple voices from within.
"Any chance we can get you to leave the library?" Cassandra meekly asked. "Maybe go someplace a bit nicer?"
"SURE." One spider answered.
Cassandra looked delighted. "Really?"
"YEAH." A different spider spoke up. "JUST COME IN HERE SO WE CAN MAKE THE DEAL OFFICIAL."
Cassandra's face instantly fell before turning to horror.
"Just you wait." This time Jake kicked the wooden barrier closed, probably a bit harder than he should have, before yelling through the closed door. "You're gonna to get it."
A chorus of muffled laughter exploded from the room.
"Stupid spiders." Jake grumbled.
"We… may need to get Jenkins." Cassandra took a step or two, maybe three, away from the door. "What exactly did he give you guys anyway?"
"These." Jake produced the two cans from his jacket pocket. Jones had taken the other two in his flight. "Kinda like bug bombs, but made just for spiders. If Jenkins got them for giant spiders, hopefully they're magic."
"Can't we just set it off then throw it in?" Cassandra suggested. "Like a grenade or something?"
Jake bit back his laugh. "That sounds like something Jones would say, but no. I don't think that would work." At Cassandra's look, he continued. "Too much webbing, I don't think it would get far enough in."
"Do we need all four?"
"Don't think so." Jake glanced over the can, before turning back to the room. "Place isn't that big, one ought to be enough. Just got to get it in there without getting munched on."
"Maybe we could… no that wouldn't work. What about… no, not that either." Cassandra droned on and on, running through all kinds of scenario's in her head while she waved her hands about in the air. Jake let the redhead think while we considered all the possibilities himself.
Eh screw it, they had the extra.
"Cassie, grab the door." Jake's voice snapped Cassandra from her hallucination. Seeming to understand the gist of his intentions, Cassandra took hold of the door and stood to the side while Jake stood opposite her.
Cassandra had just opened the door when a yell from the hallway caught their attention.
"Comin' through!" Jones dashed right toward them at full sprint. He was so fast that it took Jake a few seconds to process what he was watching. The first was that Jones was now wearing the heat suit they'd used to save New York, the second was that their resident thief was holding a can in each hand with the tops already popped and spraying.
The final thing, Jake didn't catch until it had already happened.
"Leroy Jenkins!" Jones shouted to the top of his lungs as he dashed into the room, with his speed the webbing in the way didn't even slow him down. The first spider, whom was still hanging in the doorway, bounced off the impromptu armor with a yell of its own. A litany of shouts from the spiders echoed all over the room as the things scurried away in every direction.
"Did he just…" Cassandra was just as floored as Jake was, but she recovered quickly. Surprise gave way to terror. "Ezekiel!"
"For gods' sake Jones!" Jake roared and, before he even realized he was doing it, dove in after their friend.
I have a couple ideas for a few more scenes, but I would really love to hear any suggestions from my readers. Review and let me know what you all think please.