Spider 20

It is a long and uneventful drive back to Brockton Bay.

Apparently when Gregor implied that Faultline had a sixth-sense for the most opportune time to make a break for it, what he really meant was 'whenever she felt like it.'

Twenty minutes after she'd gotten the news that Eidolon was spotted in the Philadelphia skyline, the Crew had packed up their personal belongings and all leftover supplies had been hastily shoved under a tarp in a corner of the building.

This had been in the early hours of the day just in time to hit the morning rush hour, so we were hopelessly lost in the haystack of outgoing commuters. Fortunately, whatever device or power Chevalier had used to locate us at a distance was apparently not available to the numerous PRT squads Faultline had implied were supposedly lurking under bridge underpasses or behind traffic signs.

So, uneventful departure. Which equated to extremely boring.

I'm still kind of miffed I didn't get to personally see the (second) greatest hero in the world myself. I remember having a Triumvirate lunch box as a kid, though Alexandria was front and centre on the graphic for that one whilst Eidolon was a tiny,glowing green figure in the background. Also, I didn't exactly have it on me for him to sign.

But really, how often do you get to meet one of your childhood heroes? This could have been a once in a lifetime opportunity! If this isn't proof of Faultline's villainous leanings—despite her protestations of neutrality—then I don't know what is. Only a villain's first reaction would be to run from the really cool heroes.

…Also, there was a slim chance I could have nom'd him. I mean, Eidolon's power is 'yes' so I bet I could have gotten flight from that somehow, right?

Right?

Ha~ah… what a wasted opportunity.

Now, instead of leisurely flying home, I'm stuck in a van moving less than ten miles per hour and there's not even Melanie and Gregor's banter to listen to. Instead the larger man seems content to play with his phone, browsing the internet or something. Instead I have the faint sounds of music coming from Emily's headphones to listen to as well as Newter complaining that he'd misplaced his playing cards somewhere. How sloppy of him, he should have kept better track of his belongings.

/╲/\╭ºo_oº╮/\╱\

Hours later—half a day later—I'm still stuck in a car. Not the giant passenger van from this morning though, instead it's a pretty beat-up looking hatchback. Not the most impressive vehicle, but I guess it fits in perfectly with this neighborhood.

But after everything it took to get here, it sort of feels anti-climactic.

I should be feeling fulfilled, right? Maybe relieved? Panicked?

My house is finally within walking distance—my walking distance—and I don't actually know what I'm feeling. I'm not numb, because I am feeling something… I'm just not quite sure what it is.

"This is the street," Melanie says under her breath. She turns off the motor and looks at the passenger seat where my box is strapped in. "Are you sure you want to do this by yourself?"

No, not particularly. Talking to my dad has never been something I've looked forward to even before this all happened. Now that I'm a spider, that just means even more things to explain.

Having backup would be nice, but then I'd have to explain that too. On the balance, I think I'd still prefer to deal with it on my own.

I slowly nod.

Melanie grunts and leans on the steering wheel. "You have your phone?"

In answer I mentally reach out to my new pocket and one of Faultline's burner phones materialises in the air and drops to the ground in front of me. I reach down to transmit the message pre-typed into the text to speech app loaded onto it.

{Hi Dad, it's me. Please don't squish me or pass out. I have to talk to you.}

"You can use your name in your message; it has a better chance of working and you can trust me to keep the secret. Besides, it's not like I wouldn't find out anyhow eventually with the info you shared with Gregor and I."

I don't respond to that, instead I boop the phone and shunt it back into my hammerspace then start poking at the lid of the terrarium.

Melanie reaches over and unclasps the latches, letting me slide the lid off and to the side. She rolls down the passenger window.

"Three hours and I come after you, unless you call me earlier for pickup or to say goodbye," she reminds me. "Don't take any stupid risks, Tee."

I use one leg to wave distractedly as I crawl up the door, but turn and give her a nod before I leap out into the chilly evening air.

Grappling threads!

Thwip.

If nothing else, the recent exercise I've been getting has improved my athleticism by… leaps and bounds. A quick thread-assisted jump is enough to get me onto the rooftop of the nearest house, and from there it's more or less Parkour!-ing down the street until I reach my Home.

For the longer distances I can also Blink freely as well without having to leave a trail of clone-crumbs. All I have to do is instruct my copies to phase into the weird Labyrinth-reality after I'm gone and they more or less clean themselves up.

Maybe it's littering for Labyrinth, but last I saw she had at least three different worlds to play with. I'm sure nothing bad will happen.

Also, if I forget to leave instructions for old-me I can always double back and shove them into hammerspace. It's not like I have any issues retrieving anything from there either.

Who knew dimensional abilities were so useful?

Ah, I'm letting myself be distracted again. I'm Home! I should be overjoyed!

I should… probably stop thinking about things and just get inside. No wait, I should probably knock or ring the doorbell first.

In a moment.

Aaany second now.

Oh, haha, I'm so silly. I was just imagining what would happen if I rang the doorbell like this. Like, would Dad do the cliche of looking to both sides before looking down?

Would he just scream and slam the door in my face or would he try to squish me?

I… I should probably just use the back door then. Or a window. Line of sight and all.

Yeah, yeah! This is not a good spot. I'll just crawl around to the side of the house. Good job, me! Thinking things through really… really does help.

To a side… window. Oh.

Oh, h-hey Dad.

Shit, did he see me?

Wait, it's bright in there and dark out here. How does that work again? Does that make it harder or easier?

Well, he probably can't see me. Why would he? He's busy. Or he should be, at any rate.

Why isn't he at work? That's the real question here. He's never actually been home this early for almost as long as I can remember.

Yeah… I may have misled Melanie back there. I wasn't really planning on seeing him.

What do I do? Do I actually go in and say, 'hi'? Do I actually need to explain stuff to him?

No, no I probably shouldn't ruin his evening. Especially if he's entertaining company—wait, he has guests over?

Hang on, that's a woman! He's totally hanging out with a—oh, I think that's Lacey. I… think I remember her. Gosh, I can't remember the last time I've seen her.

And there's Kurt. I guess he's hanging out with his friends. Having… yep those look alcoholic—having a drinking party.

He's having a night in, I guess. Look at them, swapping stories or telling jokes? Must be jokes, since they're all laughing. Or maybe just funny stories?

I think he's enjoying himself. God, when's the last time I saw him doing that? I don't think he ever did it when I was still around.

I mean, look at that, Dad's laughing so hard he started crying! Oh man, Kurt can't possibly let that go. Yep, he's hugging him now. Got to milk the embarrassment for as much as they can for later. I'm surprised Lacey isn't whipping out the camera for blackmail later.

I can't ruin this for him… he—he looks like he's finally in a better place.

This was a mistake. I should go. He's clearly happier without me around. I never was a good daughter these last few years anyhow. I bet I just reminded him of Mom.

Ergh… but what to tell Melanie? If I call her back now she'll know I chickened out early. I'm not about to wait an hour or two to pretend I had a heart-to-heart either.

I'll just go… elsewhere. Good thing I know of an Elsewhere I can go to. I don't know what it'll be like, but anywhere's probably better than here.

/╲/\╭ºo_oº╮/\╱\

Hmm. This place is very… gear-y. Big empty vault so large I can't even see the ceiling. The walls have lots of sprockets and gizmos. There's a term for this sort of thing… clockpunk? I think it's clockpunk, but I'm not seeing any clocks. Just some weird bronzeish statues with obvious joints… everywhere.

Hello?(hello? hello…?)

Echo! (echo! echo…!)

Well, a bit creepy, but I guess it beats staying out in the cold for a few hours.

Still, it's a bit lonely. I mean, it's not like Labyrinth is constantly paying attention to whatever's in her worlds.

Orrr maybe she is? Have you ever had that feeling where someone is watching you? Well multiply that by about a hundred times and you'd get what I'm feeling right about now.

Oh, one of the statues has a hand next to it. I think she found me. That was… that was pretty quick actually.

Oh well, if memory serves, I should get to that statue—Parkour!—and thennn…

Poke.

"Clockworks (ahah!) today, huh Elle? I guess you're in a—oh geezus you've learned how to summon the spider." Emily frowns and puts down her book to address me directly. "Weren't you with Faultline? Or did Elle actually learn how to make statues of you? In which case, shiiiiiit."

The statue's upper torso is sticking out of the wall beside Elle's head, with me standing on its shoulder. With a thought, my phone drops out of the air and into Elle's waiting hand, who seems to have anticipated the action. I reach over and tap at the screen.

{Hi Dad, it's me. Please don't squish me or pass out. I have to talk to you. are you two following me question mark}

Uh… oops. I guess I forgot to clear the first message.

Emily gives me an arch look. "First, we're back at the club. Second, did you ditch Faultline?!"

She holds out her hand. "Gimme the phone."

Uh, wait? I can teleport? I mean, I know I can Blink. But this is pretty far out there. I mean, all I did was slide into Labyrinth's world and then I… wait, just what is Labyrinth's power?

"Elle? The phone, please."

Elle flicks her wrist, flipping the phone in a neat arc to land in Emily's outstretched hand.

Nice throw. Wait, no!

Now she's going to snitch on me! Elle! You're aiding and abetting a tattletale!

"Not liking that gleam in your eyes. Elle, pacify Tee for me please?"

No dice! The whole point of this was to fool Melanie for an hour or two until I could get baaa—

Uh. Wait.

Wait wait wait.

Can I even go back Home? Back to The Labyrinth!

Okay, still spooky empty clockwork vault. Still lots of bronze statues, okay that hasn't changed. Um… where's the handy portal back to my house?

Oh, well crap.

My only landmark is Elle's body parts, like her head over there. And if I go there…

Yep, I'm on a new thing above her head.

Poke.

Okay. Note to self: The Labyrinth is apparently a one-way ticket to… well, Labyrinth.

Pat pat.

Heeeeeee~ No!

No, I can't let myself be distracted!

"...yeah, she somehow made her way back to our room. She's here right now."

Oh no, it's too late. My life is over.

"Elle's keeping her from running away. Did you want me to pass along a message?"

Well, if the gig's up anyhow…

Pat pat.

Ah, bliss…

/╲/\╭ºo_oº╮/\╱\

"I don't believe you," Melanie growls. "Do you know how many people in similar positions to yours would leap at the chance you just ran away from?"

I'm in my box, I'm in my Home. Can't hear you, I'm asleep. La la la la la~

"Opportunities they'll never get the chance to have. Lives they'll never reconnect to, because someone took that away from them."

Not feeling guilty, nosiree. Can't guilt trip a spider.

"Now, partially thanks to you and the time you've made me waste, I have a new mystery and you are going to help me solve it."

I—wait, what? I'm no detective.

"Gregor!" she suddenly barks.

"Yes, Miss Melanie?" the large man asks from the doorway.

"You're certain of what you found?"

"It is not quite a matter of public record, but not exactly high-security either. The only real difficulty would be knowing the name to search for in the first place."

"Elle, if you can, get Tee to stop sulking and coax her out of that damned box. Gregor, when do public visiting hours close?"

"Soon. Just barely less than an hour."

Wait, where are we going?

/╲/\╭ºo_oº╮/\╱\

Melanie and Elle—I guess they're trying to limit the ways I can escape—have taken me to… Brockton General?

"You said your father's name was Daniel Hebert, right? Not Herbert?"

Since we're somewhat incognito, I can't exactly answer her vocally so I settle for raising one leg. One for yes, two for no.

Still, why are we here?

Is Dad sick? He can't be sick. I just saw him partying with his friends.

…is he a fake? Was that a fake Dad? Is someone trying to trick Kurt and Lacey? Or trying to trick me? Did I actually do the right thing by not drawing anyone's attention when I was Home?!

Yeah, go me! Way to sidestep an ambush!

With them dressed in civvies and Elle's distinctive hair hidden beneath a dark-coloured wig that matches Melanie's locks, the two… still don't look related at all. But at least they don't look like their usual selves, which I suppose is good enough for whatever Melanie has in mind.

I'm tucked away in Elle's lowered hoodie. The girl needs bigger clothes, or she needs a growth spurt. There's barely enough room in this pocket for me to hide in even partially curled up.

"Hey," Melanie greets a tired-looking nurse at the reception desk. "Sorry for the late hour, but we just recently heard the news and have been driving all day."

"Public visiting hours are only for the next ten minutes," the receptionist says in an attempt at politeness. "Unless you're family?"

"Unfortunately, no. But ten minutes should be good enough for tonight."

"Name?" the nurse barely glances at the two as she flips through windows on her computer.

"We'd like to visit Taylor Hebert."

…what.