Araña: Heart of the Spider

#3 - Arachnophobia Part 3

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK

Anya and her new friend Jessica were in a bind. She had come to this warehouse located out by the East River in an attempt to save Jessica's twin brother Lucas. It wasn't going well. The room was filled with drones of the Cult of the Tarantula. What made matters worse was the fact that the cult's leaders had left with their captive. The whole reason this was happening was because Lucas was the host of the Wasp Hunter, a powerful entity that the cult wants for themselves, as well as the other hunters of the Insect Kingdom groups. Anya knew they would be coming for her next, to claim the Spider Hunter.

Her heart raced. She hadn't fought this hard since the day Sisterhood of the Wasp supposedly broke up. Of course she couldn't let this hold her back from saving Lucas. She felt that she owed him her life after he risked his own protecting her. With her fists clenched tightly she finally made a move as the drones swarmed toward them from above.

"Don't take them head on!" Jessica shouted, concerned for her safety.

THWIP!

A strand of webbing shot from below Araña's wrist connecting with the ceiling. A good tug sent her propelling upwards through the horde of tarantula drones. In the air, her body became covered in her blue exoskeleton carapace. A blue stinger popped from below her palm with an electrical charge running around it. As she dropped back down she slammed the stinger in the ground, causing a bright flash. With the drones distracted Araña grabbed Jessica's arm and pulled her a distance away from them.

"That should *pant* give us *pant* a moment," Araña said clearly out of breath. "A very small moment though."

"Anya, what are we gonna do?" Jessica turned to look along the side of the large crate they were hiding behind. "Their numbers are absurdly large. In the short time they've been back, the cult has done some serious recruiting. I don't see how it's possible..."

"Let's worry about the 'how' later." Anya shook her head. "We're gonna have to fight our way out of here."

Jessica closed her eyes. She tried her best to come up with an idea. After all the studying into the mystic arts and the Insect Kingdom she had done, she still couldn't think of a way out of this situation. She began to panic a bit, wishing she were more like her brother. Despite all the hardships he faced while living in Boston, he still kept his cool while in battle. He was even a decent tactician. Not a great one, but he would have surely gotten out of this mess.

"Hey, snap out of it," requested Araña.

The former Wasp Mage looked upon the calm appearance of the Spider Hunter. She was raised to believe the Spider Society was the enemy, that they were the true evil that plagued the earth. Jessica had long since opened her eyes to the truth a long time ago. But never in a million years would she imagine she'd be working alongside the Spider Hunter. A girl who didn't seem to be worried a bit about the situation at hand. Who didn't even think twice about jumping through a sea of tarantula drones. It reminded her of Lucas.

"Hmm..." Anya muttered as she tried to figure out Jessica. "I'm gonna create a path through to the main entrance. Once clear I want you to run."

"What? You can't just do that. Don't you ever think about yourself? What if you get hurt?"

"The trick is to not think about it. The more you think about something the harder it is to see. Now when I move get ready to run. I'll keep the tarantulas at bay. Then we'll go after Lucas."

Jessica simply nodded in agreement. It was time to put her new powers to work. Anya had not practiced using her webbing at all, the power had just been unlocked merely hours ago. This didn't bother her. With how many times she saw Spider-Man doing it, it had to be easy. Pressing her middle and ring fingers into her palms she sent webbing to attach to two poles at her sides. She stepped back and pulled on the strands. And with a slingshot motion shot herself into the mob.