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goldenbeastkeeper · 9 months

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The task was to kill Spiderman. A task Valor had failed multiple times over now. His time was running out. He knew it, and each time he reported to Belos he anticipated his punishment. Usually it was a reduction in food; if he was lucky it was a lashing out. Sometimes it was both. And every single time he walked in there having failed was a disappointed tone that he absolutely hated to hear.

He wondered what his fate was to be as he walked in this time, eyes already downcast - and they could be downcast, because Belos always preferred his Golden Spider to be in human form when they met. It made sense, he supposed; he at least looked more personable in this form, rather than the threat he was in his spider form.

Valor approached where Belos was sitting and knelt down. Even staring down at the floor, he could feel the man's piercing gaze directly on him, as if analyzing him, taking him apart piece by piece and seeing what was underneath.

"Based on your behavior you seem to have failed once more."

The words felt as if they reverberated deeply into his core, tearing at his very being. Valor winced, and he did not lift his head as he said, "He is cunning, and strong. He can anticipate my every move and-"

"Do not make excuses, Valor."

The spider shrunk back. He took a moment. Breathe, collect his thoughts, before trying again. "I- I only mean to say I require more training and time to figure out how to catch him off guard. I am certain that once I do that, he'll be easy to kill." Maybe, even if he escaped his grasp after the bite, he'd still be able to pursue him until the paralysis set in this time.

Belos peered back at him through his mask for several long seconds. Valor hated when he did that. He could never tell what was going to come next, aside from the fact that it usually wasn't anything good.

Finally, he spoke. "Your mentee. You're close to them, are you not?"

Valor looked up, confusion plastered across his face. What did Flicker have to do with . . . ?

"It would be a shame if they disappeared."

Ice cold spread through his entire being like a shock of lightning as he stared up at Belos in terror. "No!"

The man loomed over him, pitch black eye holes in his mask leering. "Then next time Spiderman shows himself, finish the job. Do I make myself clear?"

Valor gulped and dropped his gaze once more. "Yes. I understand."

He never should have let himself get so attached to Flicker. Mentees died all the time. Whether because they themselves couldn't handle the intensity of their training, or because the mentors could no longer handle the constant state of hunger they were kept in and . . . slipped. Valor shuddered at the thought. Now the prey they were sent after? Sure. They were prey, and Valor had partaken himself in particularly desperate moments. But a mentee? He couldn't imagine that. He'd rather starve. Had done so, even, giving Flicker some or all of his own food to alleviate it for them.

Or this could happen. Being used against him. If Valor hadn't gotten so attached to his mentee then the possibility of losing them wouldn't hit nearly so hard. But he had, so it did, and now he was hating himself for it.

"It really would be a shame, honestly," Belos broke Valor out of his thoughts as he mused, picking some odd something or other off his clothes. "They've been doing so well in training. They could even become the Golden Spider themself one day." He shook his head. "To lose such talent . . ."

Valor gritted his teeth, hands clenched. ". . . I won't fail you again."

"Good. I have high expectations of you, Valor."

The spider's words were soft, barely there.

"I know."

-------------------

He watched as Flicker tore into the food they'd been provided for the day. How could Valor not have gotten so attached? None of his fear and anxiety sourced from his mentee, and he'd been tasked with teaching them. Taking care of them. And they were cute, child that they were, in both their appearance and their antics. They were the most positive part of his life.

He wasn't going to beat Spiderman, especially now that he'd seen what he was like when he wasn't holding back. But he couldn't lose Flicker, either.

He knew what he had to do.

There was only one way out, and it was only opened when he was sent out on missions. When it was time for his next his last mission, he would take Flicker with him. And they would never come back.

Between the exhaustion of the fight and the fact that his body was now working on healing the new wounds he'd gotten, Valor was starving, so he did take his full half this time instead of giving Flicker more. Hopefully Belos would allow him the full time to heal before sending him out again, but he had a feeling that if there was anything that might draw Spiderman out before then, that wouldn't be the case.

Luckily, he didn't plan on actually fighting him this time. But he was probably going to have to push through anyone who tried to stop him, and heavens help him if they sent another spider after him. They were all kept in the same facility - it'd be very easy if the alarm was sounded quickly enough. It would be so much easier if he went by himself, pretended to go out on the mission but then never came back, but he wasn't going to leave Flicker here alone. He couldn't leave Flicker alone. They were coming with him.

He took a breath. Later. He'd deal with it later.

. . . But they should probably at least know what to expect.

"Flicker." Murmured, but firm. The child looked up at him, the lower half of their face covered in the remains of their meal. He continued, "Next time that door opens, cling to my back and don't let go."

They shifted back. Obviously this was not what they were expecting. "Are you gonna show me how to do missions?"

There was a faint smile on Valor's face before he shook his head. "No. No, we're . . . We're getting out of here, Flick. We're going somewhere that they won't be able to hurt us anymore. Somewhere there will be far more food to hunt. And no more enclosures. We'll be free."

Flicker looked up at him with such wide eyes Valor had to hold down a cooing warble, though he couldn't stop his head from tilting. "Where is that?" they asked.

"Outside. I don't know where specifically we'll go out there, but we'll figure it out when we get to it, and so long as we're not here we'll be fine. But people might try to fight us, so you've gotta cling to me as tight as you can, alright?"

They tilted their head, then nodded. "Okay." This was what their mentor wanted them to do, and it seemed very important, so they would do it. Besides, the thought of a place with more food sounded heavenly. They wanted that. They would listen.

-------------------

Valor ran. He ran as fast as his legs could take him with a smaller spider clutching onto his back, and he ran up the walls and on the ceiling, avoiding as many scientists as he possibly could. Unfortunately genetic modification wasn't the only thing this organization was working with, and there were a few weapons they shot at him with. Most missed, some didn't.

And then they sent out the creatures.

Two other spiders were on his tail, and he heard someone call for some project name that he hadn't heard of before but didn't want to be here for to find out. There was tackling, there was biting, there was clawing, there was blood and hemolymph everywhere. Valor was fighting for his life, and for the life of the child so desperately attempting to remain on him despite all the knocking around.

But, eventually, they made it out, and Valor was quick to scramble somewhere with more cover. He had a tracker - Flicker didn't because they hadn't been allowed outside yet, but Valor did - and he needed that to be out so they couldn't follow them. But he didn't exactly have any tools to do so, so . . . with a pained hiss he shifted back into his more human-looking form - it'd be easier to not have to deal with chitin - and bit into the webbing between his thumb and forefinger, ripping the chip out himself. He crushed it in his teeth and spat out the remains.

Then he took a breath and shifted back to spider; he'd always been warned, if he was injured in one form, not to shift into the other as it would affect the injuries, especially if any were on his second pair of arms that didn't exist in human form, and there were right now. Besides, he'd be able to defend himself better in this form if he needed to.

But as of now they needed to go. And they needed to go somewhere that would be willing to treat creatures like them. Because at this point Valor had sustained enough injuries that he was either going to die of blood loss or get infected if he didn't get treatment soon, and he couldn't let either of those happen when he still had Flicker to take care of.

(They'd gotten caught up in the fight, too. Gashes from where clawed hands tried to rip them away from him. Cracks in their chiton from being slammed into the wall or falling to the floor. They needed treatment, too. Valor needed to move.)

Someone that might have at least some amount of medical experience, that wouldn't freak out at their appearance, that might not be hostile so long as they themselves weren't . . .

There was only one place he could think of that might be something like that.

#v: golden spider #cutexasxabutton: peter parker #cutexasxabutton #(just cuz it's related to the thread)#drabble #abuse #(also uhhhhhh)#implied cannibalism #(this be a dark au)#self injury #implied child death #(there was more warnings to tag for than I realized whoops)

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