This is a real quick chapter focusing on the Infected and how their doing in the Academy. I know a lot of you have been requesting to see them again, so here it is! I hope you enjoy!
Spider watched intrigued as the small, gangly creature crawled skittishly across his palm and between his talons. Its long legs gracefully made its way through the furry digits, only hesitating for just a fraction of a second before it was on the move once more. He was so enthralled with it, Spider forgot about the 'camera' he had been inspecting earlier.
I can believe this, the voice in Spiders head – Peter – he's come to know it as, scoffed. I can never seem to attract any girls, but when it comes to actual spiders, I'm a freaking magnet.
As the tiny arachnid drew closer to the end of Spider's palm, the giant spider mutant quickly and gently, brought up his other hand so it could smoothly continue its journey through the soft, but prickly, fur. Spider wasn't sure why the voice – er, Peter – didn't like this tiny creature, it was so small and delicate, but swift and graceful; the predator as it hunted for its prey.
It's a Daddy Longleg! No, it's a BABY Daddy Longleg spider! Peter chided. There is nothing predatory about it!
Which was why it needed to be protected! Spider could tell this was just a baby; it was so tiny and fragile, just the smallest flick of his talon could leave it-no! Spider refused to think of such a thing. All alone, just wondering on its own confused; kind of like how Spider was when he woke up strapped down.
Oh, stop sympathizing with it. Peter scolded; Spider could feel Peter move around within his sub-consciousness. Just leave the little guy alone, your probable scaring it anyway. The little spider didn't act scared, it seemed perfectly happy scouring Spider's talons.
Spider cooed affectionately when the baby spider tapped its legs pointedly on Spider's talon, as if wanting to keep the mutant arachnids attention fixated on it. Aww…that was kind of-NO! Peter grumbled sourly, Spider could sense his agitation. No, no, no I am not bonding with a spider! No! No! No! It's bad enough that we're attracting spiders up the wazoo, we are NOT adopting them too. You hear me, 'Monster Me'? We already have our friends-
Pack, Spider hummed in his head as he played with the little daddy longlegs.
-ugh, Pack, whatever. The point is we already have to care and watch them, we're not adding regular spiders to the mix as well.
Spider hissed and bared his fangs at Peter, even though the voice was nothing but in his head. His sudden spark of aggression startled the little spider, causing it to back skittishly away, arching up its front legs threateningly. Immedianly Spider stopped hissing and cooed soothingly at the little spider until it was no longer feeling intimidated.
Peter was not going to decide what Spider did and did not do. Spider had been looking through Peter's memories, gathering every inch of information he could find. So far, from observing and communing with the rest of his pack, Spider figured out that they all had, had little voices in their head too, but theirs all went away eventually.
So why wasn't Peter going away?
While Spider enjoyed the extra information (it enthralled him actually, he was learning so much about the little home him and his pack have. The hard walls and ceiling, the mysterious food, with Peter's memories to guide him, Spider was slowly beginning to figure it all out). But even so, Peter got REALLY annoying; to the point Spider wanted to just bash his head into the wall to shut him up.
But he'd have to deal with Peter, for now.
Spider cooed and hummed at the little spider – what had Peter called it? – a Daddy Longleg? Peter chuckled softly, a Daddy Longlegs, he mused sadly. How ironic.
Ignoring Peter, Spider carefully gathered little spider and placed it on his shoulder, the one at the very top near Spider's head. Once there, Little Spider (which is what Spider decided to call it) – No! IF YOU NAME IT! YOU START GETTING ATTACHED TO IT! – crawled up Spiders head and situated its tiny body on his forehead.
Stop! We're not adopting it! Put it back where it came from!
Spider huffed and started crawling down the hall, toward his Nest. He passed Squirrel Girl, who was picking up some shiny bolts on the floor, and could hear Tiger and Zabu playing farther down the halls. Spider gave Squirrel Girl a soft grunt of acknowledgment, picking up a bolt near his feet and giving it to her, before continuing on his way.
All the while Peter was shouting angrily in his head, demanding the Spider leave Little Spider back in the lonely corner he found it. But how could he? Little Spider looked so alone; there was no way Spider was just going to leave it there.
Soon enough, Spider was at his Nest. It was a room (a dorm room Peter called it), very big and spacious, it was quite nice. Spider had spent hours and hours crafting his Nest to perfection, and it was looking really good. Spider had spun a giant, sturdy (but comfortable) web that stretched across the whole room. The silky thread was spun into tunnels, woven in delicate patterns, and sculpted beautifully around the walls, ceiling and floor.
To some it looked like a giant, spaghetti mess of soft strands, but to Spider it was a well-organized, beautiful creation of safety, and comfort. Spider and Peter were both admiring the web, neither could say that it wasn't done masterfully. It really was quite the wonder.
But after a moment of silent awe, Spider snapped out of it and carefully made his way across the strands. He maneuvered around the web till he was positioned in the center. Then carefully, as careful as Spider could manage, he took Little Spider into his cupped hands and softly settled it onto the web.
Congratulations Little Spider, Peter says dryly. You've officially become one of 'Monster Me's' obsessions. Welcome to the family.
Little Spider crawled curiously along the web, Spider thrummed encouragingly, feeling deeply pleased with himself. Oh my gosh, you are such a sap. Peter comments.
Spider looks up and around his web, humming louder as he sees all the spiders walking among the web. All of them Spider found throughout the Academy, surprisingly there had been a lot of hide-away arachnids. Spider cooed with pride when he saw a couple of spiders creating their own webs between strands of his own.
Spider watched them for a while, warbling happily when some of the spiders crawled up on his giant arms, just nestling and settling down in the fur. When Spider concentrated, sometimes he could hear their soft voices whispering.
Food.
Web.
Safe.
Protector.
Food.
Hunt.
Protector.
Web.
Safe.
Spider bristled in contentment, thriving in the feel of being needed. He was their protector, he was his Pack's protector, and he was the protector of their home. His Pack knew it, these tiny spiders knew it, even Peter knew it. But…
Spider looked up at the 'camera' (something he heard and saw in Peter's memories) and couldn't stop himself from hissing lowly at it. He didn't like these cameras, despised them in fact. According to Peter, these things were used to watch them. Watched by what? Spider wasn't sure, but he figured that whoever was 'watching them' had sent the person who was being guarded by Rhino.
Don't worry about it. Peter tried to reassure. Nic-er, whoever is 'watching us', I'm sure they mean no harm.
No harm? Yet the prisoner had done something, and attacked Spider, leaving the arachnid unconscious. The people Spider had first woke up to, shot and attacked Spider; with lots of weird lights and pointy things. If they meant 'no harm', then why did every instinct of Spider's tell him to fight and kill them?
Look, I know it sounds bad. But they ARE really trying to help us. You can't just go around and kill them all, that's-that's just horrible. Just be patient and you'll see. Peter tried to convince. Spider huffed with a scoff, the only thing that stopped him from killing the low-life human is because Peter insisted that he be kept alive.
And Peter sounded REALLY persistent about it, a lot more than usual, so Spider decided to listen. He was starting to doubt why…
But Spider just forgot about it, for now. His Pack was safe and content at the moment, all the spiders crawling along the webs sent soft and soothing vibrations back toward Spider. Closing his many eyes, Spider positioned himself comfortable on the web and let himself drift off into a light sleep.
LINE BREAK
Spider awoke abruptly to the sound of shrieking and a loud boom that radiated throughout his home. He was up immedianly, all the spiders around him scuttled up and away, to the top of the web and in the nooks and crannies of the room for safety. There was another boom and Spider jumped down from his web.
He could hear the rest of his Pack bellowing throughout the halls, also wondering what was going on. Spider roared loudly back at them, strong and steady as not to send them all into a panic.
Then, lightning fast, Spider ran along the walls, floor and ceiling, making his way toward the disruption by following the noise and vibrations echoing around him. Suddenly, Spider heard another hair-raising shriek – it wasn't from his Pack, but sounded monstrous and beastly.
Soon after the shriek, there was another boom.
Spider quickened his speed, zipping past doors and around bends until finally he came upon the commotion. He hissed and bared his fangs at what he saw.
It was a group of humans, Spider recognized some from before. But there were a couple of new ones too. There was one that was floating in the air; sparking and popping loudly, a blue and white glow surrounded it as jagged arcs of light jumped from its body.
Electro! Peter hissed.
Another one was a weird human that wore black and white; it had the mask of a skeleton with weapons hanging from its human frame.
And Taskmaster!?
Spider growled at the two just named, something about them made Spider angry. He felt the bittersweet flavor of venom fill his fangs. There was no question about it – those two are definitely enemies. Spider then noticed the newcomer they brought; it was small (compared to the rest of his Pack) but it had two wings that were being flapped frantically as it soared frantically above the people. Its behavior was angry, but scared too. Like it didn't know what was going on, but wanted to kill everything in its path anyway.
Animalistic shrieks emanated from this creature, sometimes crying out larder and causing a wave of energy to expel out and explode. Spider felt his glare soften just for a fraction. This creature…it was like them. Like Spider, and his Pack. He could tell by the way it was acting (the same way Spider and the rest acted; angry and hurt).
Hearing the shouts and yells of his Pack, Spider roared loudly to show them where he was. The humans (both the ones he recognized and the new ones) had their attention on him. They all started yelling and shouting, holding up weapons as Spider regarded them with the glare of his many eyes. Spider climbed up the wall to get a better look at the enemies.
The rest of his Pack burst into the room, Rhino completely annihilated one of the walls to get in, tearing bits of metal and plaster with his horn. Zabu and Tiger burst in side by side, each baring fangs with their backs arched threateningly. Squirrel Girl chittered angrily, and scurried up the wall next to Spider. Triton came in as well, still dripping wet with water, but flexed his fins and fingers so that jagged spikes poked out, then roared to reveal his maw of sharpened teeth.
Spider was satisfied by the way the enemy took a few steps back, either startled or out of fear. With a thundering roar, Spider jumped from the wall and toward the human group, his Pack close behind.
DUN DUN DUUUN! Also, just so it's clear, Electro and Taskmaster aren't the ONLY ones there. Cap, and Black Widow (and later Hulk) are there as well.
I hope you enjoyed the Infected's chapter. Spider is gonna adopt all spiders ^.^ and Peter is just annoyed. Yep, that's right, the 'voice' just got named. Hope you enjoyed their interaction.
NOW, the next chapter is the start of my story arc. It's gonna be called: "Disturbance Within Our Home Part 1"
P.S, I decided to write the bit with the teens telling Black Widow about their Taskmaster hunch NEXT chapter, instead of writing a one-shot about it. It turns out I can incorporate it into the story without disrupting the plot, it will probably just make it into a bigger chapter for you all, so – YAY!
Hope you enjoy what's to come!