A/N: Not exactly the story plot that was asked for in the reviews, but this was a coda to the first chapter I'd been tossing around for awhile and nearly added it to the end of the original chapter. So this is sort of an add-on to what is essentially a one-shot. I may expand this story for a third chapter but I'm on the fence about it.
Endsville, USA: Mindy yawned and stepped into her home-this time not forgetting her house key-and found her mother, Eris, sitting at the kitchen room table pulling a giant slug out of her mouth between the gap in her front teeth. The slug wasn't giving up without a fight but it finally released its hold and Eris juggled it briefly as it wriggled in her hands before snapping her fingers and a fissure opened up in the floor next to her with fire raging out of it. The practitioner of chaos summarily dropped the slug straight to the underworld before the fissure abruptly closed without a trace.
"That's the last time I go to bed without flossing," Eris ruminated as she got up to wash her hands and noticed her daughter looking at her.
"Hello, dear," said Eris sweetly as she cleaned up and motioned to be joined at the table. "How was school, was it chaotic?"
Mindy had to nod her head vigorously at that. "Drama! Today was a doozy. So the day is going fine-I'm making everyone's life miserable-when suddenly the place is overrun by spider warriors, two elves, and some half-human half-spider lady with an inferiority complex called 'Delma' or something."
Eris immediately perked up at hearing that. "Velma Green the Spider-Queen?" she asked, needing to know.
Mindy thought about it for a few moments. "Yeah, that was her," she confirmed to her mother. Eris turned thoughtful at that.
"I thought I sensed a familiar aural presence from the old days…well, that and the giant spider-web I saw above your school," Eris reasoned as she stared out the window at the clean-up in process. "What did she want?"
"To eat the head of that bag of bones Billy and Mandy are always hanging out with," her daughter explained. "Plus she was going to be married to that giant spider who seriously thinks Billy is his father. I don't know why anybody would want that," said Mindy disgusted as she began drinking from a glass of milk that was on the table.
"I wonder what she wanted with Grim," Eris said mostly to herself perplexed. "I don't think they've seen each other since junior high…"
Mindy now looked up at that. "Yeah, that reminds me. They hooked up at Grim's skull to a television and we got to see them at school at Doomsday Junior High. Boy, that spider-lady was always a fashion nightmare! I think I saw you too, mom. You were a real stunner even in those days. I saw you were wearing a red sweater with a white k on it and a black skirt. Where is that outfit, it's fashionable and I want to wear it!"
Eris chuckled to herself at hearing that. "It's upstairs in my closet but I haven't worn it in nearly 130,000 years," she answered. "So what were you watching old movies for?"
"Something about elections for the grim reaper," said Mandy off-hand shrugging as she went into the fridge looking for a snack. "I mean who needs a reaper anyway? Anarchy!" she said, copying the same words her mother had said in those days. Eris snorted as well hearing that as she still felt the same way today.
"Oh, I remember those elections," Eris recalled as she spun her wedding band on her finger. "Velma accused Grim of rigging the votes or something. But then he became very angry at Boogie for some reason and ended up winning the election as a result."
Mindy nodded her head thoughtfully. "I wondered how that story ended."
"So then what else happened?" asked Eris curious, interested in her daughter's day.
"Well her spider-warriors first tied up everybody with that sticky webbing of theirs and were going to probably suck all the fluids out of everybody," said Mindy disgusted, but knowing all too well how the process worked after her father, Hoss Delgado, had explained it all to her in minute detail. "Then the elves nearly cut me in half getting me out of one after I tricked them into freeing me. Thanks to fighting practice with dad and his letting me know all about a spider's weak spots I fought them off with that loser Mandy. Then they tied me up again, Billy flew in for some weird reason with eagles, Velma found out the truth about the elections, she married that big ugly spider, and then she decided to take over the world for some reason. After that, I don't remember much except I guess she failed because here I am," said Mindy as if it was no big deal.
Eris's heart almost stopped upon hearing that story from her daughter as her blood ran cold. Hearing a chaotic day happen to her child was a dream come true. That she had used trickery and fighting skills she had learned from her parents made it all the more enjoyable. But now, upon hearing the danger Velma had put her offspring in, something nearly broke in Eris's heart. And then, tiny flames ignited behind her eyes as a new feeling washed over her unbidden.
"Mom, you there?" asked Mindy a little confused after her mother had zoned out. Eris turned to her daughter and smiled sweetly.
"I'm fine, dear," she promised lightly grabbing Mindy's hand. "I just remembered I have to go meet someone this afternoon to chat about all things chaos. You finish your sandwich and go do your homework. Remember to write your answers in code so Ms. Butterbean has to hire a cryptographer to figure out the answers."
Mindy laughed at that into her hand. "Sure, mom," she said rolling her eyes before finishing her sandwich and heading upstairs with her backpack. Eris watched her go wistfully before a gloomy dark expression covered her face as her teeth gritted together angrily. And then with a tight squeeze of her fist, the gateway to the underworld opened and Eris leapt into it.
Later, the Underworld: Velma Green the Spider-Queen had been denied her revenge on Grimm because that being a misunderstanding. She could live with that. But having Jeff's father-a non-spider no less-state that Jeff could not marry her because of her animal nature; that was an outrage! He was rude, cruel, he was a species-ist! But Jeff had agreed with his father and the wedding was called off. And then her plans to conquer the Earth came to an abrupt halt with the end credits of the TV movie. But that didn't mean she'd be let herself be denied her prize.
And so she was in her mansion's study drawing up plans to return to that blue and green planet above and take it over once and for all. She would've been left to her own devices when her two incompetent henchmen, Curtis and Calgaron, raced in suddenly and propped themselves up against the study doors as if trying to hold them shut.
"Curtis, Calgaron, what's this all about? I gave orders to be left alone," Velma roared angrily. The two elves looked at her nervously as they were both sweating and shaking uncontrollably.
"Yes, yes, mistress, but…but…," began Curtis terrified as the door was heard shaking from his body against it.
'Some-someone's hear to s-see you," Calgaron completed as he too was no less scared off the unseen occupant. To see them in this state was a surprise to Velma as she couldn't fathom who in the underworld would scare them that badly. It couldn't have been mom and dad, they were back at their summer home on the spider planet…
BOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!
The double-doors suddenly blew open with a giant gust of wind as if thrust open from some unseen and chaotic force. Curtis and Calgaron raced across the room and out onto the balcony only to leap to the grounds below, each high pitch screaming in terror. Velma covered her face against the blowing wind as her paperwork flew everywhere around her until the wind finally died down.
In the darkness of the outside hallway-the lights had apparently all been blown out-two tiny flickers of light were seen. And then the lights slowly began advancing on her. Velma steeled herself for a fight and flexed her poison stinger accordingly as the sound of footsteps were now heard calmly approaching her.
And then from the shadows, the ominous figure resolved itself into a blonde-toga wearing female with a gap tooth. And upon seeing her old classmate, Eris, Velma let out a sigh of relief.
"Eris, why didn't you just call and say you were coming? I would've put out the good china for you to break!" Velma chuckled, a hint of nervousness seeping into her laugh.
Eris smirked slightly at that. "Couldn't do that. It wouldn't have been chaotic enough if you knew I was coming to visit."
Velma began collecting her scattered papers on her desk to try and organize and calm her thoughts.
"So what brings you my way?" the Spider-Queen had to ask. "I haven't seen you in a couple centuries."
Eris shrugged. "Just wanted to catch up is all," she offered before holding up a tray with a teapot and cups. "Tea?"
Time passed…
The two former classmates were laughing heartily at some of their exploits as well as reading up on what had become of some of their former classmates.
"But seriously," said Velma wiping away a tear. "What's this I hear about you marrying some mortal? That's can't be real can it?" she said incredulously. Eris smiled sheepishly.
"Guilty as charged. He's a big man child with the social graces of a two year old but…I don't know for some reason it works. Maybe because he helps bring chaos to my life," Eris figured both missing her husband and wondering annoyed what had become of him this time after he'd vanished again since the past three days. Perhaps he'd crashed the jackelopes yearly gathering that she'd heard rumors about looking for game.
"But enough about me, what about you?" asked Eris, intentionally steering the conversation in a new direction. "I heard you made your way topside for a little bit just recently. How did that go?"
"Ugh, terrible," said Velma putting down her cup. "Three human children, one spider, and one old classmate who could use a little meat on his bones ruined my plans of world domination. Two of the children were ones I think you've encountered before: Billy and Mandy. The third one was a pint-size bruiser with an attitude whose name is unimportant as all potential victims of my spiders are," said Velma with a smug smile. But what she'd failed to notice was Eris calmly placing her own cup on the saucer as a shadow crossed over her eyes.
"Mindy," Eris stated softly but forcefully to get her point across as her feeling started to simmer. "Her name is Mindy."
"Not much of a name," said Velma dismissively, still not noticing the change in Eris. "But she did put the kibosh on a number of my spiders. I'll have to take care of her once I return to the upper world along with the rest of those children."
The flames lit again behind Eris's eyes again and on her hands too as her tea suddenly slowly began to heat up and boil.
"Velma, as a former friend and classmate I owe you this courtesy. But I am also only going to say this once," Eris began darkly through gritted teeth. "You are never to touch that girl again for as long as you continue to exist."
That statement threw the Spider-Queen for a loop. "Is this why you came all the way to see me? To warn me off of some mortal human?!"
"Yes," said Eris not backing down nor trying to deny the truth behind her visit to Velma's amazement and delight.
"You protecting a mortal, that's rich," said the Spider-Queen amused. "This has to be a joke."
"It's no joke. You are not to come anywhere within sight of her," Eris swore as the flames behind her eyes grew brighter. But Velma's stubborn nature refused to back down from a challenge, especially one involving a mortal.
"Why shouldn't I? She harmed my spiders that gives me the right!" Velma shouted, her good feelings for her classmate vanishing in an instance.
"She was defending herself and proving that your spiders are useless fighters in the process," Eris goaded. Velma was turning beet red upon hearing that.
"She got in a few sucker punches is all," she said, even though that wasn't the truth. The little girl had been a scrapper and fought with tenacity. Something about the girl reminded her of someone else but she couldn't think who. "You still haven't said why you care. You'd never take on an apprentice after that failure with Billy. Maybe you think of her as some hard luck case. Take it from me as someone who tried to marry a wimp of a spider with daddy issues, they're not worth it."
Eris got up to leave rather than say something she'd regret later. "I've said my peace. Take it or leave it, it's up to you. Either way I won't be shedding tears over your grave if you do try something," she admitted. Velma stood up as well confrontationally. Her relationship with Eris had always teetered between acquaintance and frenemy and it was clear which way the scales were tipping right now.
"You know what, just for that I think I will come topside and I will make that half-pint's life miserable…more miserable than you can ever imagine," Velma boasted as Eris's body began involuntarily shaking in anger. "And you won't be able to stop me. Your chaos powers are no match for my spider powers, they never have been. I can sense the aura you're projecting now. That's your full strength, I know it, you know it, and it will never be enough to…"
FOOOM
Fire erupted all over Eris's body as her shaking stopped. She then turned to look at Velma and her piecing rage-filled gaze shook the Spider-Queen to her core. And then something Velma thought impossible happened, Eris's aural strength blossomed a thousand fold, far beyond what should've been possible with the power of chaos. And it nearly blasted Velma off of her eight legs. And for what may have been the first time, Velma Green the Spider-Queen felt the same kind of fear and terror she often unleashed on those around her.
"If you touch my daughter again, you won't live enough to regret it," Eris roared with pure anger in her eyes while simultaneously revealing why that little girl was so important to her. "I'll atomize you before you even knew what happened. And then I'll open a portal to somewhere lower than the lowest underworld and scatter your ashes across it so you'll never come back," Eris further promised. And then flames died down on Eris's body but the aura remained as strong as ever and Velma sensed that wasn't even the fullest extent of her newfound power capabilities.
"What…what could give you so much power?" asked Velma utterly clueless. Eris looked at her hands that still were encompassed with flames rolling off of them.
"I know chaos, I've been using it all my life so I know its limits," Eris began. "But this…this power I'm feeling, it's something completely different that I've ever felt before. I can't control it, I know I'll never be able to it's that strong and it's always threatening to overwhelm me. That scares me but at the same time it helps to reassure me. I'll go to any lengths to protect my child, you remember that. Goodbye Velma, it hasn't been pleasant," said Eris as she left and the doors slammed shut behind her by an unseen force.
Left behind with her thoughts, Velma could only look back on the recent events of invading Endsville and the particular red-headed pint-sized bruiser who had both verbally and physically attacked her spider army and henchmen. Throughout the invasion of the junior high, something about that girl had niggled at the back of her mind. Something from her past…and then the pieces really did click more so than Eris's statements.
The girl was a mirror image of her mother and despite having two eyes and her soldiers having multiple eyes, they'd all been blind to it. The attitude, the arrogance, the courage in the face of adversity, and the raging well of energy underneath their seemingly harmless exteriors, it all fit. Mindy was her mother's daughter through and through.
And with that, the Spider-Queen could only collapse onto the floor as the energy completely drained out her at the terror she had nearly unwittingly unleashed upon herself. There would be no conquering of Earth anytime soon.
Later, on Earth: Eris walked back into her living room and sat down on the sofa emotionally and physically exhausted as she rubbed her face with her hands. It was true what she'd said to Velma, this power and her feelings for her child were something she'd never experienced openly before. She'd strongly suspected they were there, but to see it manifest itself so openly and unbidden was still a little bit of a shock to someone who largely lived a solitary life. It was something new…it was definitely chaotic. And it was something that would never go away.
"Hey, mom, check me out!" said Mindy from behind her as Eris tried to put her thoughts behind her. She turned around and what she saw caused her to give laugh so hard it nearly hurt. Mindy was now dressed in her mother's red and white sweater and black skirt that she'd worn back in junior high. But Mindy still had some growing to do to really fill it out as the sweater sleeves were too long and the skirt nearly dragged along the floor.
But in Eris's opinion the girl was still as much a total package as she had been in those days. Snapping her fingers and pointing, some thread on her old clothes unwove so that the sweater and skirt now perfectly fit Mindy. And then the extra fibers amalgamated into a monster and stalked off in search of some unfortunate victim to terrorize.
"Like a bite out of the old apple," Eris agreed as Mindy hopped up onto the couch with her homework in hand.
"Will you review my homework? I got it translated into base 10 along with a hexadecimal cryptographic key but I'm not sure if I did it right," Mindy said a little timidly, not used to being imperfect. Eris gave her a warm smile and mussed her daughter's hair.
"I'm sure you did fine. But why don't you turn in your homework in plain old English this time," Eris commented. Her daughter looked at her strangely.
"That doesn't sound very chaotic," Mindy had to point out.
Eris nodded her head. "On the surface, no. But if everything you've done up to this point has induced chaos, it comes to be expected. But if you stop without warning, sometimes that can be even more upsetting to the new natural order," Eris pointed out. Mindy thought about that for a moment and nodded her head in agreement.
"So let's still review your homework and then we can have some fun working on your encryption skills so you can write down nasty dirt on your fellow classmates and they'll never be the wiser as you blackmail them about it later," added Eris sinisterly. A malicious smile spread across Mindy's face and the two eagerly dove into their work.
Later that evening, Eris's husband and Mindy's father, Hoss Delgado finally turned up having returned from the jackelope hunt with freshly caught dinner. With the right secret ingredients for that added bit of chaos, the stew ended up tasting delicious. And the dinner conversation with a lively one as Mindy and Hoss discussed her battle tactics against the spiders as well as Hoss's desire to perhaps go hunting them someday. And then Mindy and Hoss both grilled Eris on her younger days which brought no amount of small embarrassment to the chaos bringer. All told, it made their little family appear…normal.
With dinner done, Mindy finally got ready for bed and was finishing reading the latest chapter from the book Transforminators vs. Lunacorns: Sage of Vexation when Eris came in to turn off the light. Normally she'd just say a word about hoping Mindy would have nightmares but this time was different as she walked in and sat on the edge of the bed.
"I remembered that earlier I didn't have time to say that I am proud of what you did today," Eris admitted in response to Mindy's questioning look. "You faced a chaotic situation and gave as good as you got if not better."
"Gee, thanks, mom," admitted Mindly happily. "But where did you go all of a sudden? You sure bailed in a hurry without warning after I told you what happened in school."
Eris sighed briefly as she looked out the window and saw in the distance the thread monster from earlier being attacked the U.S. military.
"I had to go meet someone I hadn't seen in awhile," offered Eris cryptically not bringing herself to look at her daughter's face.
"I see," said Mindy unsure how to take that but having an idea what that meant before sighing as she sat up against the headboard and pulled the sheets close to her. "I wish I had power like you do."
That admission got Eris's attention and she turned to look at her daughter.
"I don't know what you're talking about, you do have power," Eris stated confused. Mindy shook her head.
"Not like you," she disagreed. "You can make vortexes appear with your hands, cause reality to rip itself apart, make people's lives chaos. That's the power I'm talking about."
Eris immediately shook her head. "That's not power. That's an outlet for demonstrating my power but that power only comes from within. Look at you, you fought off a hoard of spiders bent on conquering the world with only your bare hands and your words. What did your classmates do? Answer: nothing! They stood by and were cocooned to be eaten later. You want to talk about who has power, to me that answers that question."
That was something Mindy hadn't considered.
"Compared to what I can do, that also makes me seem weak in comparison," Eris continued before placing her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "But you know what, you also give me power. And today was definitely one of those days. I know I don't say it out loud that often but I want you to know that I do love you, Mindy. It's a strange feeling, but a good feeling."
"Like chaos," Mindy chuckled to herself as Eris nodded her head. "I love you too, mom."
The two hugged closely and then Mindy laid down in her bed. "If that fashion disaster ever tried to invade this town again she wouldn't live long enough to regret it," the child swore before drifting off into dreamland.
"No, she wouldn't," said Eris wistfully as she shut off the light and left the room. As she made her way to her bedroom, she noticed the downstairs lights were on and the sounds of movement was heard. Walking reluctantly downstairs she entered into the kitchen where Hoss Delgado was examining his weapons and preparing for what looked like a small-scale war.
"And where are you going, you just got back!" Eris demanded.
"No can do, baby-cakes, there's a giant thread monster on the loose and I'd like to bag it," the man-child answered. Eris groaned.
"Besides, Mindy talking about fighting those spiders has gotten her old man back in the fighting spirit with the adrenalin flowing non-stop," Hoss added as he used his lighter to light up his flamethrower. "And I'd like to bring home a trophy for her accomplishment."
That admission surprised and delighted Eris. "Me too," Eris agreed with a nod of her head.
"So do you want to have a fun night on the town like the old days?" asked Hoss as he headed for the door fully armed. Eris snapped her fingers and she found herself decked out in a camo two-piece toga with belts of ammunition around her.
"Anarchy!" she shouted and the two rushed out the door.
Heaven help her, she loved them both.
