ARACHNE
A WORM/Spiderverse story
by Tangent

"Hey..."

Taylor looked over at the other girl who had been brought in and guided to the other bed in the room they now apparently were sharing at Brockton Bay General. Infectious disease ward, naturally, because of course the Terrible Trio's return to school prank just had to be as nasty as possible. The girl only looked vaguely familiar. Maybe someone she had seen occasionally in the halls between classes, but not someone she had ever shared any classes with. And definitely not one of the Trio's hangers on, so she decided to take a chance. "Hi."

"Roberta Sanchez."

"Taylor Hebert."

"Oh! You're the girl Hess shoved into the locker! You might be glad to know she's off to juvie. Again. Apparently she was on some sort of probation for something she had done back in November. Her buddies might be heading that way along with her after this stunt."

"I can only be so lucky," Taylor huffed. "Emma will probably worm her way out by pulling her 'my dad's a lawyer' card."

"No shit? Her old man's a lawyer?"

"Divorce layer, but yeah."

Sanchez chuckled. "Yeah, not happening. Not with the CDC called in and Winslow shut down from that stunt."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Bunch of us also got bug bites and came down sick from one thing or another from that nasty little brew they had going in your locker." Roberta sighed. "Not that we didn't sort of deserve it for being a bunch of lookie-loos who just had to try to catch a peek at the wrecked locker. Damn, Tay, that must have been some heavy adrenal surge! I mean, it's one thing to hear about hysterical strength on the Discovery channel or something, but to see the results first hand? Wow..."

"I guess..."

"No guess, Tay Tay," Roberta chided. "You're awesome. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Okay..." Taylor hesitated for a moment, then cautiously added "Bob."

Roberta snorted involuntarily, then burst out laughing!

Maybe... Just maybe... Things were beginning to look up.

Now if only the fever and nausea would go away...

Aisha stumbled into her room shakily after puking her guts out in the toilet once again. Not that her mother noticed, strung out as she was. Again. Probably should have gone back to dad's place, considering she was actually supposed to be living there since Brian rained hell down on the bastard that...

Aisha thought darkly on her mom's taste in boyfriends, not for the first time, but as she seemed to be between lovers at the moment, it was easier to deal with her than it was with how strict her dad was. Not that he ever hit her or anything, but he just didn't get her at all.

Plopping down across her bed, Aisha curled up in her blankets and zoned out into a fitful, fevered sleep...

Greg raided the fridge again for the fifteenth time since coming home from school. He felt a little dizzy and maybe a bit hot, but he mostly felt like he hadn't eaten in days!

Which was ridiculous, of course, given the gamer's paunch he had from eating too much Doritos and pizza while playing Space Opera. Not that he was huge or anything, but he definitely wasn't one of the jocks either.

Ugh... Food now. Then maybe he could actually stay asleep without feeling so restless.

As he drifted off, Greg wondered idly if Winslow was going to be open once again in the morning, and whether or not Taylor would see him as a hero or just another nobody who only came forward when it was convenient. Probably the later, if the cop's question meant anything.

His dreams were troubled, and he felt sick in the morning, but apparently the school was closed anyway for some reason so he didn't have to go in.

At least he didn't feel like he was starving anymore...

Parker reached over to grab the cup from the bedside tray in the isolation ward in the PRT's medical bay, where he was being held for observation after reporting in and turning over the Alchemax spider. So far, his symptoms had included dizziness, some nausea (alternating with brief, but controllable, hunger cravings), and a high fever. Not dangerously high, but bad enough. Oh, and really damn strange dreams which he dutifully logged every time he woke up.

Speaking of which, he set down the cup and reached over to pick up the note... book...

The cup was sticking to his hand.

"Oh, God damn it! I liked this job!"

Taylor stared in the bathroom mirror in shock. Somehow the little paunch her belly had despite the fact that she was otherwise a human beanpole had disappeared, replaced by girl-abs, muscle tone she definitely never had before, ever, and actual boobs that were more than just a teasing suggestion.

How the fuck did this happen?

"Tay Tay! You gonna be done anytime soon? I really gotta pee!"

"I'll be right out!" Taylor quickly tried to put on the bra, brought over by her father the night before as part of a set of clean clothes for her to use, along with the notebooks she had finally told him about (the police wanted to make a copy of what she had written as corroborating evidence to go along with all the hate mail in her stuffed school email accounts). Tried being the operative term, as her new bosom, nice as it was to finally have one to speak of, was a bit past what her bra could comfortably hold.

Aaaand… there! Finally. A bit tight, and definitely uncomfortable, but it was on. Reaching over to grab her hospital gown, Taylor winced as one of the straps of her bra snapped. "Ow!"

"You alright in there, Tay Tay?"

"Yeah! Bra broke!"

"You should probably have gotten rid of your old ones when they got too small. Your dad probably grabbed that one by mistake."

"You're probably right..."

Like hell she was. Taylor didn't have any smaller bras!

Aisha shrugged off her blankets and sat up, waiting a moment for the dizziness to pass befor standing and stumbling to the bathroom to relieve her tortured bladder. Between her fever, the funky dreams she had every damn time she fell asleep, and alternating between feeling starving and too nauseous to keep anything down, she felt like death warmed over.

Screw school. She wasn't going in today.

It wasn't like her mom would notice anyway. Probably wouldn't even care if she did.

"Greg, you've been puking your guts out all morning. Get dressed. We're taking you to the hospital."

"What about school?" Greg had to at least try to tell Taylor that he had told the cops about all the bullying she had gone through. That had to count for something, right? Even if the cop he spoke to seemed to think he should have come forward sooner.

"No school for at least a week. The CDC shut Winslow down, and a bunch of the staff is under investigation for letting this happen under their noses."

"Oh."

What was the CDC, and what did it have to do with anything?

"Well, you are definitely demonstrating parahuman abilities. Whoever this Alchemax cape is, apparently he or she found the Holy Grail of triggerless power making."

"And was irresponsible enough to somehow let a bunch of school girls sneak one of his or her biotinkered spiders into school. I'm pretty sure it was probably stuffed in the same locker as all the other creepy crawlies."

"Yeah, looks like. Anyway, you're definitely stronger, and gradually getting more so over time, and your reflexes are showing a marked improvement. We're also pretty sure that you can support your own weight now with just one hand or foot when you have your adhesion power active. And those notes you gave us turned out to be some sort of temporary adhesive chemical. Really strong stuff, but it dissolves into inert residue after an hour after being exposed to open air, so it's kind of useless."

"I wouldn't say that, exactly. I think I could do something with it if we put it in some sort of pressurized container. Give me the notebook, I'm getting more ideas!"

"Triggerless power up, and now you're going for all the ratings. Some guys have all the luck, Pete."

"I'm still out of a job, Eddy. You know capes can't work for the PRT."

"So you'll be in the Protectorate instead. Big deal. Just remember you were one of us first, okay?"

"Always, Eddy. Always."

"Damn straight. Now let's see what you got there..." Edward Brock took a look at what his (now former) partner was jotting down. "Some sort of high pressure sprayer? I guess that'd work, but I still don't see how this is any better than confoam."

"Confoam needs a releasing agent. This stuff doesn't, and I think it's even more environmentally friendly when it dissolves."

"Okay, you might actually have something there, Web."

"Web?"

"You know that's going to make a web line if it's sprayed out under that kind of pressure, right?"

"Yeah, I guess it would at that."

"So Web. Make it two bees, for the cool factor. If this stuff can compete with confoam, you may as well own it, right? I bet the PR guys would love it!"

"They let Clockblocker keep his name."

"Not like they had a choice with how he announced himself when introduced to the press. Don't know why he didn't like Stopwatch."

"Eh, kids. What can you do? I'll go ahead and see if they'll accept Webb as my cape name. Hardly the worst one out there."

"I AM THE ENCHILADA KING!" Greg declared deliriously as he suddenly sat up from the emergency room bed. A moment later, he fell back and zonked right back to sleep again, unaware that he had said anything at all.

"Well, at least now we know where the leftovers went," Mr. Veder commented to his wife as they sat by their son's bedside.