Author's Note: A lot of people have told me that they'd like to see me write a full-length tale with Faith and Logan as Weapon X subjects, but unfortunately I'm currently at another fanfic low, so I'll be sticking with short stories for now (and trying to keep writing my "A Slayer Transformed" story, too). Sorry about that.Hope this latest short helps make up for it.

Along Came a Spider
(X-Over with Spider-Man)

Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer extraordinaire and High School Senior, was currently considering the notion that the universe was having a serious grudge against her. Oh, she had always known that she wasn't its favourite person. The whole being called as a Slayer and living out a short life filled with demons and monsters thing was ample proof of that. Still, this latest development was really pushing it.

Here she was, the saviour of the world several times over, forced to endure a torture more profound and agonizing than anything the Master, Spike, Drusilla, or even Angelus might have come up with. And she couldn't even go the usual way of slaying her tormentor, considering that said tormentor was perfectly human and probably even thinking she was doing a very good thing.

That just went to show how much teachers knew.

"Now, class," Ms. Heidenreich said, "I want you to remember that we've been given an extraordinary opportunity here. It is not everyday that Oscorp opens its door to a class from a small school such as Sunnydale High."

"Isn't this exciting, Buffy?" Willow asked, almost bouncing with excitement. Okay, Willow was a nerd and proud of it, but still. Couldn't she at least stop it with the bouncing? She should know Buffy well enough to know that she wasn't enjoying this.

"Oscorp is like the biggest biochemical company in the world," Willow went on, oblivious to her friend's mood. "They do all kinds of revolutionary research here. I wonder if I could maybe get a job here after college."

"Wills, you could get a job pretty much anywhere, so please stop it."

Willow looked at her friend, apparently clueing in that she wasn't quite as excited as her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Buffy. I know you don't like this stuff. But isn't this great? Oscorp moved all its research out here to California from their plant in New York just a few weeks ago. If not for that, we might never have had the opportunity to visit here."

"We should have been so lucky."

Buffy tuned out the running commentary of their guide and Ms. Heidenreich, instead taking in the surroundings. Didn't look like anything special to her, just your standard laboratory injected with a certain air of gigantomania. She knew nothing of this Osborn guy, but he probably tried to compensate for something or other.

Suddenly something caught her eye. A boy about her age was wandering apart from the group. She'd seen him earlier, coming into the plant. Apparently he was part of a small exchange group from New York who had been granted an internship here at Oscorp. He had kind of reminded her of Xander. Right now he seemed to be wandering around looking for something, wearing that same look Xander always had when he had made a mess of some sort and didn't want anyone to notice.

Figuring that anything was better than listening to the guide's praising of Oscorp, she wandered over.

"Lost something?" she asked, causing the boy to start.

"Oh, I... no, not really, I... well... there was this spider and... I really shouldn't have..."

Buffy wasn't sure what he was saying, but her focus suddenly shifted to a spot above them. Something was moving up there and she'd caught it at the edge of her vision. A spider, a huge one. And with funky colouring, too. And it was quickly zipping downward, right toward the boy.

"Look out," she yelled, shoving him aside. The spider landed on her lower arm and, before she could swat it away, bit her.

"Ouch!" She threw it off and smacked it against the wall with enough force to splatter it into a mass of multi-coloured goo. Checking her arm, she found two tiny red dots where the little bastard had bitten her. Well, she'd been bitten by far worse.

"You okay?" she asked the boy, who was only now getting back to her feet.

"Yeah. I... uh, was that a spider?"

"Yes, why?"

"A big, blue and red one?"

"Yes, again. Why?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just... well... you probably shouldn't mention that you squashed it. I hear it was kind of important."

Looking around, Buffy saw that no one seemed to have noticed their little escapade.

"Let's get out of here then... sorry, what was your name again? I'm Buffy, by the way."

"Parker. Peter Parker. Are you okay? You're looking a little pale."

Buffy was feeling a little dizzy. "No, I'm all right. Probably just the constant prattling of the Oscorp-preacher over there."

A little spider-bite was nothing to worry about, was it? She'd been bitten by worse. This dizzy feeling seemed to be getting worse, though. Maybe she should excuse herself and go home sick. Yeah, that sounded good.

THE END