Ettercaps

Several minutes into the walk to head deeper into the sewers, Susan’s head began to clear, the woman eyeing the walls and ceiling as she followed the strands of webbing that acted like a path to where the spiders came from. Even though she could see everything in the ultraviolet spectrum, she was still walking around blind in the dark. At some point, she stopped when she thought she saw movement in the shadows, a claw moving out of sight just as she turned her attention to a series of pipes.

Raising her fists as if ready to fight, the mask completely covering her face formed a mouth that pouted into a frown. “You think you’ve got the drop on me? I may be weakened but I’m not down for the…”

A claw, like a pair of steak knives grabbed Susan by the back of the head and pushed her down, pinning her to the ground with ease. Dazing Susan as she looked up to the lanky, bloated creature looking down at her with glossy black eyes and banana shaped fangs that flexed and twitched as it tilted its head in curiosity. Just how could something be so silent?

“Jokes on YOU ass-hole!”

A series of tentacles sprouted from Susan’s back, jabbing into the monster’s arm… And did absolutely nothing. Looking over to the tendrils lather and lick over its leathery skin, the monster tilted its head again and looked back at the confused woman who pulled her tentacles back.

“How?”

Instead of giving her an answer, the creature slammed her head against the floor, knocking her out.

*

She didn’t know how much time had passed; minutes? Hours? Everything was such a blur, even in the large space she found herself in as she blinked and raised her head up to look around. Making to move her arm, she found herself bound in thick webbing and left to hang in the air as she looked around to get her bearings. It looked like a laboratory of some kind. All around her she found massive cannisters filled with fluid where humanoid shapes floated in the lime green chemicals. Nearby she found several of the human spider creatures lurking nearby, staring at her with their pitch-black eyes. Struggling against her bonds, she found she was far too tired and weak to even break free.

“Ah, so you’re finally awake. Good.”

The voice came from an elevated platform in the large space where she finally spotted a man wearing a lab coat turn from his workstation to see his creation’s prize finally awaken. The man smiled back at her with fanged teeth, his skin was dark green, and he sported yellow eyes and pointed ears.

“I see you found my laboratory Mrs. Richards; I am truly surprised you were unaffected by their abilities, that’s something I will have to study more deeply in time.

“Jackal!” Sneered the woman as she tried to break free of her binds. “I thought you were taken care of when the spider plague was cured, and their queen fell in Time’s Square. And HOW do you know who I am?!”

Turning around in his chair to the computer screens mounted to the wall, the man revealed a series of charts and information, along with a vial in his hand filled with a white squirming fluid that wriggled behind the glass like a worm. “I took a sample of your DNA while you were ****. VERY interesting sample you gave me, I take it THIS was how you and your husband found a cure?”

Looking over his shoulder to the struggling woman, the Jackal shrugged. “No matter, I bet you are curious of what I’ve been doing these past months.”

“Getting sepsis living in the sewers?”

Chuckling at the jab, the Jackal got to his feet and waved over to the monsters surrounding the woman.

“Adriana Soria came to me with a plan and an exorbitant amount of money to help her change the population of Manhattan Island into a race of giant spiders that she could control with her… Gifts. I admired her audacity even if it lacked a sense of vision.” Placing the vial on a rack on his worktable, the man continued. “The crippling flaw in her plan was… Well, obvious. But more importantly, it was only good for one go and that was it. That didn’t seem very profitable to me, regardless of how much she paid me. SO… I created these creatures after studying her successes and failures. Behold the Ethercap.”

Heading down the stairs of the platform to stand on the main floor of the large chamber, the Jackal spread his arms out to show off his creations.

“A reworking of Miss Soria’s DNA, these creatures are completely loyal to ME and anyone who will pay through the nose for a bioweapon that can sow chaos in very little time or effort. They are also capable of telepathically controlling anyone exposed to the retrovirus they expel through glands in their pits. The perfect weapon, capable of creating the perfect soldier and at JUST the right scale where some tin pot dictator might want to buy more than one… Perhaps I’ll offer a discount if they buy a dozen or more, hmm?”

Struggling more fiercely but unable to rip the webbing, Susan winced and cried out failing to break free.

“So where do I come in your crazy schemes you green skinned lunatic?!”

Raising a finger as he turned his back and went back up the steps to his workstation, the man pointed back at the vial filled with Susan’s blood and the Anti-Venom symbiote.

“Well, what GOOD is a weapon without a safety? I could easily create a serum mean to undo the transformations on those afflicted, but this lovely sample has so many possibilities on their own. A weaponized biological armor, along with a cure that ails you… Now that’s good money!” Looking over his shoulder, the man grinned. “Which also means I don’t need the source, and my subjects DO get hungry when left alone for too long.”

Seeing the Ettercaps turn their attention towards Susan and give a look that could only be best described as salivating hunger, the 6 or so creatures began to advance on the woman as her struggles intensified.

“YOU’LL NEVER GET AWAY WITH THIS!”

“I already have. With my experiments complete I intend to smuggle my works out of the greater Manhattan area and sell to the highest bidder… But you ARE correct in that many would miss you, maybe even go looking for you. Which is why when my creations are done here, they’ll go to your home and pay your family a little visit.”

Feeling the claws of the Ettercaps pull her down from her bindings, the woman practically screamed as she felt a clawed hand grab hold of her throat, pulling her towards the arachnid face of one of the monsters as he outstretched his fangs to bite her.

“Shame I won’t be able to study their biology once they become spiders, especially your son and daughter, but sometimes you have to work with what you have avail…”

A screech filled the air just as the mass of one of the ettercaps crashed into the set of computers next to the Jackal’s workstation, falling to the ground dead… And missing its head! The impact had sent the man to the ground with a shock, looking back at where his creation came from and gasped. Looking back at Susan, he found his Ettercaps backing away in fright from a creature that licked its teeth with an oversized, prehensile tongue and smiled, eyeing the Jackal with a jester’s grin.

Somehow… She had broken free of her bonds and bit off the head of one of her assailants, and in doing so scared off the others as she shivered and squirmed, her body changing. Her muscle tone increased drastically as did her height, growing almost half a foot taller. Her feet developed clawed toes and spurs under her heels, increasing her height even further as she brandished extended claws for fingers, along with tendrils that squirmed and snapped like serpents from her shoulders, ankles and back. Her hair, once assumed to be her natural locks became alive like some massive sea anemone, millions of wire thin tentacles swaying over and behind her as if caught in a current. Opening her mouth, it was filled with uneven, razor-sharp teeth, pitch black as if they were made of shards of onyx, her black tongue licking what was left of her prey, eyeing the rest of the ettercaps in a whole new light.

“Hmmmm… Tasssstessss like Chocolate pudding!”

Faster than any of them could react, Lady Anti-Venom lunged for the nearest creature, her mouth a gapping maw as she clutched at the beast’s shoulders and bit down, swallowing his head whole and throwing the body aside. The rest attempted to flee for their lives, only for eight tendrils to sprout from her back and lash out like some albino kraken from some story book and grab hold of each and every one of them by their legs or arms, pulling them back as she opened her mouth again and slithered her tongue out.

“Tasssty tassssty chocolatessss… Do they ALL tasssste the same?”

Like a starving animal, Susan lunged for the nearest Ettercap, claiming a third victim as the monsters tried to fight off the terrifying woman who only seemed to get worse the more victims she claimed. One was brave enough to try and slash at her to break free, only to have its arm caught in her hand and broken in twain like a twig.

“Ooooh… You’re FIESTY! I wonder if you’re a different flavour!” Wrapping a tendril around its neck, she pulled the thing closer as it tried and failed to pull away. “I bet you’re full of nutssss…”

Hearing another of his creations get decapitated, the Jackal looked around for an exit, falling to his hands and knees to try and sneak out without being seen, or tried to until a tentacle snapped out and pierced the metal door, he tried to reach the doorknob to like a spear, forcing him to yelp and reel back in fright. Looking back, his eyes went wide with horror to find she had completely dispatched his creations with ease. Hugging herself tightly, eight of her tentacles from her back changed shape to take the form of eight arachnid legs, propping herself up off the ground. A look of pure ecstasy on her terrifying face as her figure grew more Amazonian in appearance. Muscles gaining definition, thighs growing wider, hips widening to match, contrasted by a narrow waist with hardened abdominal muscles and a heaving chest that pushed her arms back slightly from their now melon sized mass. Her smile reached all the way back to where her ears would have been as the two splashes of black where her eyes would be seemed to twitch and writhe like living ink stains.

“Hmmm… Talk about a pick me up! I wonder if they have that flavour at the bakery?” Slowly turning her head to stare back at the man, her smile took on a more devilish turn as she opened her mouth slightly to let her tongue extend out until it reached her belly button. “Oh! Hello there… What was that about my kids?”

Terrified beyond rational thought, the Jackal reached for the door again and found himself stuck when the metal door and his hand were globed together in a matted layer of thick black spider webbing. Pulling back as hard as he could, he looked over his shoulder for but a split second and regrated it instantly when he found himself looking face to face with Lady Anti-Venom as she licked at her jaws like a hungry predator. Reaching out with one of her extended limbs, she plucked the vial that stored a sample of her blood and symbiote and broke it, watching as the small sample slithered free and rejoined the rest of her mass.

“There we go, come back to mamma… Now… About my children, what did you say you were going to do?”

“N-n-nothing. NOTHING! I was…” Wincing and closing his eyes in terror, the man could only whimper as she extended her tongue and licked up the surface of his face.

“Ssssalty, I bet you tassssste yummy!”

“I WASN’T GOING TO HARM THEM!” He screamed in terror, just as Susan’s tendrils coiled around him, their tips taking the forms of serpents and opening their tooth filled mouths like lampreys. “I GOT CARRIED AWAY! I WOULD NEVER HARM YOUR FAMILY… You must believe me…”

Lowering his head and weeping in fright, he thought it was the end when he felt her elongated fingers wrap around his skull while his head was down, then her mannerisms changed as she tilted his head down.

“Subject number 000218… Why do you have a number on your neck?”

Fear now replaced with denial, the Jackal looked up, his eyes angry in disbelief. “What? No! I’m not a clone! I’m the original, we all admitted it, I was the one in charge, after I was given orders by the Jackal to…” Pausing at that moment and bringing a free hand to the serial number at his neck, the man looked defeated in his realisation. “Well, I’ll be damned, I am a clone.”

“Hmm, chocolate made from artificial flavours, I wonder what YOU taste like.”

*

Barreling out of the metal door of the lab and scuttling her way out of the reservoir and out into the open air, Lady Anti-Venom leapt into the air and swung her way up to the highest peak of the city where she perched from her eight long legs and wiped her fanged lips with the back of her hand.

“Bleh… That didn’t taste well.”

Looking out into the city and breathing in the night air as it would be morning soon, her pitch-black eyes thinned, denoting she had them closed as she breathed in and exhaled.

“Sssso many people to help, sssso little time before ssssun up.” Hearing a police siren off in the distance, her smile returned, as her tongue flicked out in the open air. “Well then… Ain’t no resssst for the wicked!”

Aiming her fist at the nearest building, she shot herself a web line to jump off her perch and follow the vehicle to its destination.

*

Hours later…

“Hmm… What the… Auugh… My aching head.” Sitting up and finding he was coated in what looked like black tinted spider webs, the moment Marc sat up it crumbled apart. Looking around, the man found he was in a sewer, the light of the mid day sun cutting through manholes and water drains overhead. Hearing a woman’s voice nearby, Marc pulled down his mask to cover his face and pried off the brittle webbing to pull the brunette free and have her sit up, finder her regain consciousness and look around confused.

“Wha… Where the hell are we?”

“Looks like a sewer, we’ve been here for a while if the sun’s up.”

Getting to their feet and padding down the webbing off their ruined clothes, Jessica Jones made a face of disgust as she hugged herself, keeping away from anything that looked filthy… Which was everything.

“Do YOU remember how we got here? Because I don’t.”

“No, I can’t either.

Seeing a rat scurry past her feet, Jessica visually grimaced and jumped away from the diseased looking animal.

“ALRIGHT! That’s enough for me, stand back.” She declared, looking up and getting ready to fly up and reach the drain overhead. When she jumped into the air, gravity pulled her right back to the ground. Surprised, she looked down and jumped again, finding herself landing on the ground again.

“What’s wrong?”

Looking down at her hands and back at the white clad vigilante, Jessica could only blink in shock.

“My powers are gone!”