Chapter Eight - Project Arachne

Two months had passed.

Two months since the betrayal of Felicia, two months since the kidnapping of Jessica, and two months since Peter had been on a field mission. Or even called in. At all.

Needless to say, a lot had happened in two months.

-.-.-

"I can't do it anymore," Cindy admitted, her voice breaking as she expelled a shaky breath. "Please, send Simmons, Morse, anyone else—hell, call in Peter—I just...can't..." She trailed off, her gaze turning downwards towards fingers that tugged at the hem of a flannel.

Hill leaned back in her seat, thinking over the options. "Agent Simmons is working a job for Coulson, Agent Morse has her own duties," she stated, giving a glance towards the shaken agent, "and we all know Parker couldn't fool any of them for a second. We need you," she pressed, "Jessica would want it that way."

"But she isn't Jessica anymore, dammit!" Cindy exclaimed through gritted teeth. "They've twisted her, tested on her. . ." she said, her tone measured but on the edge of breaking again. "From what I've seen, there's nothing left of her humanity," she continued. "Project Arachne, they called her. Not even a person anymore: A project."

Hill was silent a moment, choosing her words carefully. "And that's why we need you there—soon enough we'll encounter her, and when we do, we'll need you there to tether us down. We need you—she needs you," the agent said in a quieter tone, each word filled with impact.

Cindy looked up a moment, her eyes reddened and swollen, lips pressed into a thin line as she formulated how to respond. "Then it looks like we're all screwed," she whispered, turning for the door and not looking back.

"Agent Moon—Cindy," Hill said, standing up abruptly, causing the younger agent to pause for a moment. As the team's leader opened her mouth to continue, something on her computer beeped, and she gave a moment's glance towards it. "Oh God," she whispered, eyes falling towards the screen, before flicking back to the young agent, who had turned around towards her again.

"God, no, they can't—this isn't good," Hill continued, fingers tapping madly on the keyboard, racing to find more information on the report.

Cindy dashed back to the desk, gaze hardened, but a flash of worry grazing her eyes as she saw what the report was: Unnamed Female Assassin Leads Hydra Troops into Discovered SHIELD Facility.

"It's begun," Hill muttered, a sigh stopping short of escaping her lips. "Alert the team," she said, not even giving the young agent a glance—she would know what to do.

-.-.-

A week earlier, Midtown High School

"So, you know, I was um, thinking that maybe—only if you want to, and uh, and if your father's alright with it—maybe uh, next week, to uh, to celebrate freshmen year being over, we could uh—I was just thinking, maybe um—"

"I like movies," Gwen said, helping the poor guy with his words, "I'll buy the popcorn."

Peter blanked for a moment. Was that a yes? "Uh...right, yeah, movie. Uh—when?"

"Monday, 6:15. How To Train Your Dragon 2 will be out. Sound good?" She asked, her curls bouncing slightly when she tipped her head to the side in question.

He nodded, a small and somewhat goofy grin on his face. "Uh—yeah. Yes. I'll, uh, I'll see you then," he managed to say.

Her face lit up with a grin—God, he loved it—and she turned back towards her car, where her little brother was laying it on the horn rather loudly. "I'm coming, don't kill the horn!" She shouted, waving a hand in the air.

Meanwhile, Peter was just standing there, a dreamy grin stuck on his lips as he watched her go. He sighed giddily as he realized he had a date with Gwen Stacy.

He just hoped her father wouldn't arrest his sorry, scrawny, Spidey-butt first.

Present Time

"Could it wait? Like two and a half hours, to be exact?" Peter grunted into his comm, which had surprisingly been activated just moments before. "Maybe three?"

"Get your ass over here now, Parker, haven't you seen the news?" Cindy said quickly and sharply—she seemed a lot more on edge than usual, but then again, it had been two months since they'd last conversed.

The news? What news? "Well, finals and all—I've been trying to keep my mind off it," he said with a slight grimace. "Why, what's in the news?"

She said nothing, but rather held up a tablet, showing the digital headline Unnamed Female Assassin Leads Hydra Troops into Discovered SHIELD Facility.

Oh, that news.

He was silenced by the headline, eyes frozen in shock as he remembered watching Jessica being kidnapped, hearing Felicia just up and betray them with no second thoughts. . .Seeing Cindy break in the process. He'd tried not to think about it, but now everything came back with the speed of a hurricane.

"I'll...I'll call Gwen..." He said half-heartedly, picking up his phone. "I'll be there in ten."

"No need, we've got someone picking you up right now."

"Can't I call Gwen first?"

"Right now," Cindy repeated harshly, then hanging up abruptly, leaving the comm blank.

"Right..." Peter sighed, opening up iMessage and sending a quick text her way:

I can't make it tonight, so sorry. Stupid work called me in, so I gotta fill in for another person. No other choice. Rain check, mkay?

He hit send, wincing as he did so. He felt awful—absolutely terrible, and there was nothing he could do about it. He saw her typing a response, and it broke him to see it.

K.

He knew girls hated "K" with a fiery passion, so being on the receiving end wasn't much better. That "K" was a lot more than just a response, he knew the "K" was basically her disappointment shoved into one letter.

And as he sat in the back seat of the small, black car, he felt awful.

Of course, he should've checked the car a little more thoroughly before entering it, but it was too late now.

"Miss me, hon?" A familiar voice said from the driver's seat, "Because I know a certain someone's definitely missed you."

-.-.-

Forty-five days earlier, Unknown Location

"Now, Miss Drew, you've proven to be quite the problem," the tall man said, as if reprimanding a disobedient puppy, or perhaps a child that had drawn on the walls.

Jessica spat at his feet, glaring at him as she hung near-limp against the cuffs that held her from lunging at him and strangling him unconscious. "I still don't know what the hell you want with me, but you aren't getting anything out of me," she said, chest heaving.

The man clicked his tongue in a reprimanding manner, "Miss Drew, you must have realized by now what exactly we want with you—you've lasted longer than any other subjects," he explained in a manner akin to a sought-after achievement. "And you must know that in all reality, discovery requires experimentation," he added, glancing at her over the tops of his glasses.

Jessica pursed her lips, a good slough of comebacks bubbling up in her mind, but she bit them back, refraining from making the situation any worse. "At least the food's good. I think yesterday I saw someone with a BLT. You really treat us well, don't you?" She said sarcastically, deciding she didn't have much else to lose. She wasn't going to break.

This earned a cold, clear chuckle from the doctor. "Ah, what a sense of humor. Such a shame that will be wiped out soon enough," he said, nodding towards the one-way window, which was a mirror from this perspective.

The agent tugged at the cuffs a little more quickly now—she knew what kinds of experiments they did around here, or at least the caliber of them. "What good will wiping me do? You won't get any information from me," she grunted, still struggling.

"Directly from you? No, we won't," he said dismissively, "But because of you? Oh, we'll have much to discuss," he said, lips curling ever so slightly into a cold smirk.

Her heartbeat quickened, and so did the heart monitor's beeping—a fast-paced soundtrack of clicks and beeps to serenade her into oblivion. She watched as the machines above her slowly lowered towards her head, blocking out the dim lights as they fell over her vision. "You'll get nothing from me," she gasped, before a few of what felt like needles pricked into her arms and legs, and a chilling sensation spread throughout her body as the machines around her whirred to life.

"Quite the contrary, Miss Drew, you will prove to be quite cooperative soon enough," the hazy voice seemed to whisper, although it was probably just her senses slowly dulling as whatever had been in that serum took hold.

For a moment, there was nothing but the buzz of faint electricity, the final breath of the subject, and the beep of her heart slowing down to near-critical levels.

And then came her cry. It echoed in the small, mainly concrete room, and her figure thrashed violently as messages clashed in her mind, blocking out some and enhancing others, rewriting everything. Her fists clenched as she slowly stopped struggling, shallow breaths racking her figure as a silence lulls over the room again, pressing down upon the heavy atmosphere of the room. Soon enough she relaxed, and the table slowly became perpendicular to the floor, machines revealing the calm face of Jessica Drew—although the calm was anything but—eyes closed, nothing moving.

The doctor took in a sharp breath, holding up a hand to the subtle chatter he could hear just outside the room, eyes not wavering from the young woman's figure.

Her eyes darted under her lids, and the doctor exhaled in relief. It had been a success.

"We must alert Strucker," he said in a soft tone to the Hydra scientist that entered moments later. "Project 6, subject 16 is a success."

-.-.-

Present Time

"We've got plans, can't have you and Moon mucking them up—"

"Jessica!"

"SHIELD's been compromised, ma'am—"

"Peter Parker—Spider-Man—"

"The pain is far worse to imagine—"

Arachne.

Who was that?

Arachne.

Was that her name?

Arachne.

It had to be, everything else was so fuzzy.

You owe it to Hydra.

Owe it to who? For what?

SHIELD tried to kill you; they experimented on you. Made you what you once were—nothing more than a freak, too evolved from your original status.

What was her original status, then?

The powers of a spider. Retained from your origins. You must use them to repay your debt to us at Hydra. We saved you.

What was Hydra?

Those to which you owe your life.

Silence.

What did she have to do?

Wake up.

-.-.-

Three hours earlier, HYDRA Facilities

Where was he? He must have been knocked out while in the car. But...why?

"Miss me, hon?"

Right. That's why.

Peter struggled against restraints, trying to get a better feel for wherever the heck he was, but his struggling was of no avail. His breathing quickened as he began to panic, turning his head left and right to try and find some way out. And the main question running through his head?

Where was he?

"Panicking really doesn't suit you, hon," a voice said from the shadows of the other half of the room, and Peter's gaze turned sharply towards it.

His Spidey senses weren't tingling, which confused him. Wasn't he in direct danger? Shouldn't something be happening? Anything?

"We dulled your senses, didn't you notice?" She added, as if this was quite amusing to her.

Hadn't he noticed? In the dim room, he hadn't really realized until now that everything seemed duller—more akin to a normal human being's senses, it seemed. His breathing continued to race as he blinked multiple times, squinting into the darkness. For the time being, he needed glasses again.

"Relax, it's only temporary," she said simply, a chair creaking as she stood up and revealed herself—Felicia Hardy, ex-SHIELD agent. "You'll be back to your twerpy crime-fighting self again in no time, although I doubt you'll be excited for that," she said, her lip curling into an amused smirk. She knew something he didn't, didn't she?

"What do you want from me?" Peter asked, glaring at her as he pulled at the restraints again (there really was no use, he wasn't going to get out).

"It's not what I want, it's what Hydra needs," she said, folding her arms, exposing the now-replaced Hydra patch on her shoulder. "And that? You'll find out soon enough," she said, giving him a little wave as she headed for the door. She turns around again, smirking as shes says, "Oh, and Jessica will be so happy to see you." She winks before smiling mischievously and promptly shutting the door with a slam, leaving Peter alone and very, very worried.

-.-.-

Did I just leave you on about fifty million cliffhangers? Oops.