ARACHNE
A WORM/Spiderverse story
by Tangent

"Hey! Tay Tay! Over here!" Taylor heard Bobbie calling to her as she got off the bus at Arcadia. Her new friend was waving her over, and standing next to her was an unfamiliar boy. "Tay Tay, meet Richie! His family moved up from New York over the summer when his dad retired. He's former Winslow like us, but he hadn't been part of any of the nonsense. What do you say to another study buddy in our Arcknights club?"

"We're the Arcknights now?" Taylor asked Bobbie, bemused over yet another name for their two person endeavor to get their grade point average to stay high enough to actually stay in Arcadia if Winslow ever opened again. Other names Bobbie had come up with so far had been, in order: The Arcadians (already taken by an existing school club); Libram Noir; Excelsior; the Knights of Arcadia; and Taylor's personal favorite to date, the Undead Poet Society. Anyway, whoever Richie was, Taylor didn't remember him ever picking on her, so if Bobbie liked him, she was willing to give him a chance.

The fact that he was pleasantly handsom had no part to play in this decision.

Really.

"Taylor Hebert," she introduced herself.

"Richard Fisk." Ooh... nice voice too!

"Anyway, Tay Tay, Richie here was just telling me that he had seen how hard we were studying, and he was wondering if he could join us. His dad apparently signed him up for Arcadia originally, but the paperwork got held up somehow and didn't get filed in time before the school year started, which is how he ended up in Winslow."

"Yes, Dad was not happy with this turn of events," Rich stated. "He was even less happy to find out what kind of hellhole Winslow turned out to be."

"But by then you were in their clutches and the faculty dragged their heels whenever the subject of transferring out came up, right?" Taylor guessed dryly, remembering her own problems with Principle Blackwell and her secretary.

"Yes, exactly," Rich agreed. "Dad is very much involved in the ongoing lawsuit against Winslow due to their gross negligence, general incompetence, and being unfit to teach rats in the sewer, let alone children. His words, not mine."

"He's not exactly wrong though," Taylor pointed out. "Although some of the teachers were okay..."

"Name one," Bobbie challenged.

"Miss Knott."

"I didn't have her," Bobbie shrugged.

"I had her after lunch," Rich offered. "I agree. She, at least, was okay."

At that point, the first bell rang, and the three entered Arcadia and dispersed towards their respective homerooms.

Aisha decided that Clarendon High was okay. Not great (what school was, really?), but certainly better than Winslow had been. The teachers were more... what was the word? Engaged, that was it. The teachers were more engaged, the rooms and halls were cleaner, and the gangs less in your face about what they were since the school dress code was actually enforced.

And still somehow as boring as hell, except for her new interest in math and science.

Why the fuck was she interested in math and science all of the sudden!? It just wasn't natural!

Well, at least they gave her a better understanding about how to pull off some of her ideas.

She idly doodled a sketch depicting herself as Black Arachnia, using a sort of underarm web membrane to glide, with a new pistol that shot out a line. Surrounding this doodle were several chemical formulas and calculations describing how to actually pull it off.

"You're in my seat, Veder."

"Wasn't your seat over there, Flash?" Greg sighed. Awesome super powers, and still somehow on the shit list of whatever jocks were around.

"That was last week."

"Whatever." Greg didn't get up, knowing that Mr. Robinson would stop Flash from going too far. Clarendon wasn't Winslow after all.

Greg cocked a brow as Madison Clements came into the room. He hadn't been aware she had been assigned to the same school as he was. He guessed that her suspension must be over since he hadn't seen her at all since Winslow closed.

"This isn't over, Veder!" Flash stated, before moving to sit at another desk. Which happened to be the exact same one he had sat in for the previous couple of weeks. Greg just did not understand whatever it was that happened to be going through the jock's head.

Ah well, it wasn't like he couldn't just avoid the guy. Greg wondered just what he had done to piss the jock off?

Flash, for his part, was furious that the new kid from Winslow (WINSLOW of all places!) was wrecking the grade curve in the classes he needed to pass in order to be able to stay on the team! Coach Grady wasn't one to let the jocks get an easy ride just because they could play well.

Webb bobbed and weaved, ducking, dodging, and otherwise avoiding nearly every strike Armsmaster made during their spar.

These sessions had thus far been a rather interesting study of experience verses power induced ability, with the balance shifting back and forth in favor between the two over the past few weeks. At first, Armsmaster had dominated their matches, then Webb as he got used to his powers, then Armsmaster again after he made some adjustments to either his technique or his armor, then Webb again and so on.

It was honestly one of the few times Webb had ever seen Armsmaster smiling, let alone grinning. The man apparently lived for self-improvement.

Webb supposed the fact that he could engage in Tinker talk with him without getting lost also helped.

"And break," Armsmaster announced, calling an end to their spar. "Some good improvements over all, for both of us."

"I noticed that you were having an easier time trying to hit me again. Did my new prediction algorithm help?"

"That one was still mine, actually," Armsmaster stated with a smirk. "Although I did have a quick look at what you had come up with. Looks promising, and I may end up incorporating it later once I'm done checking it over. Although I thought you were planning on how to counter Ghost Spider's cloaking ability."

"Uh... Yeah. I kinda got distracted."

"It happens. In time, you'll learn how to direct your Tinker fugues better so as to stay on the task at hand."