Okay, I'll admit. This is one of my favorite chapters. Like, for realises. It was so much fun, I loved writing the dynamic, and it's seriously one of my favorites from this book.

Hope you guys enjoy it just as much as I do! :D

Luke C. POV

Luke wasn't feeling ready for another training diagnostic. Not with how well the last one went.

It wasn't just because of the lacking team-work in their group, but because Scorpio was displeased with how it was going. His boss hadn't been very happy with his last performance.

"Fighting like a child. Insufficient tactic! A big, blundering idiot ramming through walls. A disgrace to the Zodiac."

It had gone on for a while, each word feeling like a bullet ripping past his invulnerable skin. He'd given Scorpio his word that he'd serve the Zodiac to the best of his abilities, and that he'd repay him for all he's done and helped Luke with. For what he was helping him achieve now. Having failed so spectacularly, Luke didn't feel quite ready to take on the training bots again, even if it were just himself, much less with his "team."

While he'd never say it out loud, he hated this idea of being in a team. This team, specifically. Zver was nothing but a crazy hunting beast belonging to Kraven that looked as ready to attack them as the training bots. Disciple didn't care whether or not they succeeded, and cast spell after spell without making sure his allies weren't in the crossfire. Novae and his constant derisive sneers and comments on their worthlessness and stupid "Earthling" strategies. Cheliceri and his inability to communicate. For someone who was supposed to be leading them, he wasn't doing an ideal job of it.

Luke wanted nothing but to vent his problems to Scorpio. To explain how this team was useless and incapable. But something told him he wouldn't get very far in his argument. For some reason, Scorpio was set on the idea. All of their superiors were, in fact. It was strange.

But whatever their superiors did since the last exercise, it seemed to have worked magic - perhaps, literally, in Disciples case. The team was much more...subdued. Novae generally remained hovering in the air, as he normally did, but his remarks were few and far between.

Zver, too, was silent. Her lips were set straight, not in their usual snarl, and past the fabric covering the top half of her face, Luke could barely see a partially hidden bruise on her cheek. When she caught him staring, she hissed and stalked in the opposite direction.

Disciple was looking far less enthused than normal. But he didn't scoff and mutter about how it was a waste of time. Rather, he stood off to the side, in his own little corner, waiting for the training to start.

Out of them all, Cheliceri was the only one missing.

Until he jumped down from the ceiling, landing silently in a couch, and Luke glanced vaguely up, wondering how long he'd been up there. Those abilities of his never failed to unease him. He's seen a lot of weird things at Zodiac, but the way Cheliceri moved. Smooth movements, like water rolling over stone, when he wasn't fighting. Quiet and solemn behind those red lenses.

But, every time, as soon as he was in a battle it changed. His movements became jerky, quick, and fast-paced. His head snapped in every direction, tilting to the side as he regarded different situations and enemies. He scuttled and crawled across any surface, limbs moving so quickly sometimes it seemed like he had more than one pair of arms. It was unnerving, and it left Luke with a deep understanding as to why people generally feared spiders. They were usually small and harmless, but the way they moved seemed dangerous and otherworldly.

But that might just have been the effect of his yarn-ball of unease. Scorpio had him lose his dog mask. Said it was just getting in the way and restricting movement. Luke knew the mask was mostly for show, to distill fear in those who've heard of the Guard Dog, and despite having complained about it so much, he was surprised with how stripped away he felt in its absence.

Everyone else got to keep their gear, their masks, and he felt weird and out of place with a bare face. Vulnerable to eyes he couldn't even see. Not that he let it show. Whenever they passed him, glancing at little too long at his bare face, he crossed his arms and stared back in their lenses. Daring them to comment about it.

None of them did. Not even Novae.

Once they were all present, the room began to change. He and the "team" stood closer to the side, near the entrance, as more than half of the training room shifted. Blocks rose from the floor, columns fell from the ceiling, ledges protruded from the walls. Once it stopped it was like a tiny, elaborate city built just for them.

A full body image of Taskmaster - the master of this base - appeared in front of them.

"Mission objective," was the first thing he said, and Luke noticed how Cheliceri instantly straightened, shoulders back, and watched Taskmaster with rapt attention, "an artifact is hidden within the maze. Find it. Simultaneously, an opposing team of my mercenary students will be seeking the artifact as well. The exercise can be completed in two different ways. The first, when either team receives the artifact. The first team to obtain it wins. Second, your team automatically wins if you knock-out, or "kill", the leader of the opposing team. Vice versa for them."

Luke glanced at Cheliceri through the corner of his eye, whose fist tightened at his side. Looks like leader didn't want to be a martyr - shame. This whole thing might go by faster if they just offered him up as a sacrifice.

Than Luke thought about Scorpio and his scathing words, and decided better of it. Might as well just kill the other team's leader as quickly as possible and grab the artifact themselves. Besides, Cheliceri might've thrown a very subdued, silent hissy fit if they pinned him down and gave him up to the other team.

"Failure to complete this mission will result in severe punishment," Taskmaster continued, eyes seeming to bore particularly at Cheliceri, despite adding, "For all of you. Your performance will be judged by myself and your superiors. Don't disappoint us."

The hologram shut off and they were left alone.

They stepped toward the complex city-like scape but stopped a few feet ahead when they noticed that Cheliceri wasn't with them.

He was still standing behind them, frozen in place with his fists stuck tight to his sides. "Hey," Luke snapped, "you coming or what, leader."

Cheliceri's head snapped up to him, before shaking himself out of whatever daze he'd climbed into and stalked forward. He didn't offer an explanation for his hesitation as he brushed roughly against Luke's shoulder and headed for the entrance.

Novae rolled his eyes, muttered something about "weakness" and zoomed ahead.

Inside, the city-scape was in a labyrinthine design. A very cluttered maze, with handholds in the walls, high ledges that were wide enough to run on, randomly shaped structures that obscured the shape of the corridors, and walls that varied from 20 feet to the height of a picket fence.

Luke strained his ears, searching for the sounds of an opposing team outside their own. It was much different than Scorpio's office. The floors here were a hard metal that seemed to clang with every step he took, often earning him the glares of his comrades whose steps were soft and held tightly.

"You wanna quiet down a bit," Zver hissed out of the corner of her mouth, crouching next to a corner to peer around to the other side. "I've hunted elephants quieter than you."

"Hey, some of us are built a lot thicker than others," Luke snapped but kept it quiet. He was already making so much noise, he didn't want to add talking to his list of weaknesses. Still, he tried to hold his feet.

Dainty, he told himself. Think dainty.

His dainty was nothing short of a marching band.

"Well, looks like we already lost the element of surprise," Novae said, leering accusingly at him, and Luke muttered something none too nice back at him, which only made Novae snicker.

Their bickering was put to a stop by Cheliceri who suddenly stopped, going rigid. Not a second later, he jumped to the side, just as a sharp ping pierced the silence and embedded itself in the metal wall Cheliceri had been standing on.

"The strike team," he announced, none too helpfully, and scuttled up the side of a wall to peer over. He ducked again just as quickly as another shot chipped the edge of the ledge.

"Oh, well, that's unfortunate," Novae yawned, sinking lower around the walls, likely so he wasn't accidentally shot. "Well, you better stay here while we find the artifact. Would hate for our dear, precious little leader to get hurt, right."

Cheliceri glared at him over his shoulder, looking less pleased than normal. "Stick together," he said, one of the first orders Luke's actually heard him give, "We shouldn't split up."

Novae shrugged, "Alright, I mean, I guess if you're scared that makes sense. You know, up in space, we wouldn't duck out of something if it was dangerous. We'd take it, like soldiers. But, sure, we'll stay together so you don't get hurt. Humans, so fragile."

Despite being human herself, Zver chuckled crudely with Novae while Luke hid his smirk by turning to observe the corridor outside. Disciple merely scoffed, looking as invested as he normally did.

Cheliceri was unresponsive to that, but Luke could see the way his hands dug into the metal. Man, what did it take to get him to act up? He was like a statue. A small, boring little slab of concrete with just as much personality. What Luke wouldn't do just to see him blow up a little. At least I'd give him something interesting to leave with them.

"A sniper is positioned 30 degrees from my left," Cheliceri said instead, eyes boring into Novae's, "Why don't you go take it out then," adding to rub salt in the wound, "For your leader."

The grin on Novae's face landed on the floor and his nose wrinkled disdainfully. He remained where he was for a moment, and Luke was sure he was going to refuse the order.

Then, too sweet to be natural, Novae said, "For our delicate leader, sure. Keep your head down now, I would hate for you to get scared."

He twisted up into the air and disappeared over the rising walls and columns. A short distance away there was a flash of light, a yell, and Novae was soaring back over to them with a white-suited agent dangling in the air where he held their ankle. In the other hand, he clutched pieces of a gun.

He dropped the sniper at Cheliceri's feet, followed by the broken gun. "Feel safe yet?"

But Cheliceri didn't look like he felt safe. He stumbled back as soon as the agent landed in front of him, going for the bo-staff on his back, hissing "I didn't tell you to bring them back!"

No sooner did he say it was the agent stirring. They twisted on the ground, swinging to their feet, and attacked Cheliceri with a wickedly twisted knife. It was blocked by the bo-staff. Chelicer pushed them off and advanced, swinging his weapon sharply.

The agent swerved away from the hit, and danced forward, swiping with expertly crafted swings. This one was a lot nimbler than the ones they've fought before.

Zver was bounding forward within the blink of an eye and swiped her own claws at the attacker, who doubled backward to avoid it. Before Zver would press her advantage, there was another shot and she yelped, backing away. She found cover behind a low block and bared her teeth in the direction of the shot.

Cheliceri pushed the agent off of him again, who'd jumped him as soon as they were free, and ran up the side of the wall, to a top ledge with a good-size balcony to duck behind.

The rest of them found cover, aside from Luke who stood in the center, arms crossed. Bullets pinged off his skin harmlessly and he laughed, smirking hotly at Zver.

"Tougher stuff," he said, jerking two thumbs toward himself and she bared her teeth at him.

Luke was drawn from their little spat though as Cheliceri bolted out from behind his cover and began a wild dash from structure to structure, narrowly avoiding the bullets zipping around him.

"He's going to make us lose," Disciple said, holding bullets away from him with a glowing blue barrier, almost bored as he watched Cheliceri's progress.

Scorpio's words came back to Luke, filling with him gasoline.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," he yelled and sprinted for their stupid leader.

Cheliceri was faster than him in the air, but Luke wasn't about to let that stop him. He ripped a ledge clean off the wall and threw it at Cheliceri, who looked to the side just in time to see it and flip the other way. He landed on a wall below, ducking out as a bullet whizzed past his shoulder. Grunting, he clasped a hand around the skimmed wound which was leaking blood between his fingers.

"What was that for?" he demanded.

"We're not losing because of you," Luke told him. "You're not the only who'll get in trouble if we fail. Besides, what happened to sticking together?"

"What happened to wanting me to fight?"

"Get over it!" Novae said as he zipped past and a second later the firing stopped again. Before starting up a second later with Novae flying in the opposite direction. "They've multiplied," He said, scooping Cheliceri up from under his armpits and flying off before either of them had a chance to ask what that meant.

There was a loud SWHOOOSH followed by BOOOOM that exploded next to Luke. He was blown back several paces, making a large rough dent in the walls where he landed. He got up, heard another SWHOOOOSH and decided that perhaps it was time to run.

He followed the blue trail disappearing over the walls, making it to the next open space just as Cheliceri delivered a hard uppercut to Novae's jaw, who finally dropped him.

Novae held his chin, spitting curses as blood speckled on the floor from where he'd bit his lip. Some of it was in a language Luke didn't know, but pieces of it were in English. ".....WAS HELPING....PROTECTING THE FUC...PUNCHED MY JAW....KILL YOU....STUPID EARTHLING..."

But Cheliceri wasn't listening. He'd distanced himself as far from Novae as he could. One hand splayed over his chest, where his breathing was strained and heavy, as the other clamped down around the shaft of a gun on his thigh, just shy of getting pulled out and shot straight into Novae's head.

That had Luke stopping in his steps.

He's never seen Cheliceri act out like that. What was that about?

Through Novae's furious ranting, Cheliceri muttered, low and raspy, "Don't...don't touch me again."

Novae paused his stream of alien curses and glared lasers at him. "What?"

"Don't. Touch. Me. Again." Cheliceri repeated, loud and brittle. "Touch me again and I will kill you."

Everyone in the room froze. The threat would've seemed a little dramatic if he didn't look like he actually meant it. Novae's anger ebbed a little, seeming to catch on Cheliceri's change, and the way he was favoring the firearm strapped to his leg. He still looked irritated, but he turned away quickly wiping the blood from his chin and lips.

Luke caught Disciples inquisitive gaze and shrugged. Don't look at him, he didn't know what was going on.

It was deathly quiet, and Luke didn't know if it was a good idea whether or not he should break the silence.

Fortunately, he didn't have to.

Cheliceri found himself a wall to climb up, sat up near the very top with the gun still held tightly in hand. When his hard breathing had softened, he looked back down at them.

"This isn't working."

"Yeah, no shit!" Novae grumbled, still holding his chin.

Cheliceri ignored him, though the gun twitched in his hand. "We all don't want to be here," he said, "We all don't want to deal with each other. We've been forced into this and we all hate it. Agreed. But if we don't pull it together than it'll just get worse for us."

They all looked down. Luke thought of Scorpio, his anger, the discipline he's worked, beaten, and trained into Luke. He looked back at Cheliceri.

"Let's just get this exercise over with," Cheliceri continued. "Find this artifact so we can go on hating each other till the next exercise we'll be forced to do. Sound good to anyone else?"

"Fine by me," Disciple said.

"Nothing would make me happier," Zver included.

Luke nodded.

"Flarking agreed!" Novae grouched.

Cheliceri scooted down so he was eye-level with them. "Good. I think I have a plan, but you're all going to have to suck it up and work together."

"I will if you will," Zver retorted.

Disciple sighed, "What's the plan? I'm sick of being in here."

Cheliceri dropped down to his feet.

"First things first, we need a distraction..."

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This plan better work.

Luke was crouched behind a wall half his height, just enough so he could peer over the top. Cheliceri's plan was risky, and if it didn't go right it would likely end with them failing and reserving an even worse punishment from their mentors than last time. Something none of them seemed too keen on.

Just thinking about what Scorpio might make him do made his fingers twitch and he had to resist the urge to punch the closest wall to rid himself of the urge to sprint for the artifact as fast as he could.

He reminded himself to stay in position and dug his feet a little harder into the metal to make sure he kept them there. Somewhere ahead of him, Cheliceri was in hiding, and farther away, Novae, Zver, and Disciple. All waiting for the signal.

He only had to wait another minute before the first part began.

Cheliceri crawled along the walls, slow and cautiously as he made sneaky attempts of hiding within the shadows. He was spotted quickly by a silent shot. He jumped off the wall, landing in a crouch on his feet.

He took his bo-staff out just as someone stepped out from behind a wall.

Decked out in white, holding a deadly looking gun in hand, the agent kept a cautionary distance from Cheliceri but kept the nozzle aimed for his chest. Another one stepped out directly behind him, and Cheliceri moved slightly to the side to get a good view of both of them. Which was futile when another member joined the stand-off.

"It's about time you ditched those goons," a voice said from one of the pale, skeletal masks marking them as one of Taskmaster's students. "Didn't think it would take long before you couldn't stand them anymore."

Cheliceri shrugged stiffly, flipping the bo-staff through his fingers to remind them not to get too close.

"Where's your leader, Alpha 8?"

A chuckle from the same agent, "So you did figure out it was us. You know, I gotta say I was excited when Taskmaster told us we'd be helping break-in your little rag-tag team. I've been looking forward to this for a long time."

Cheliceri didn't reply to that one.

So the agent continued, shifting her hold on her gun. "You know, I should just shoot you know and end this. But Alpha 8 wanted to be the one to end it. Leader killing leader, or something poetic like that."

"I'm sure," Cheliceri replied. "So how about you go get her so we can end this. I have better things to do."

A small laugh rumbled from the three.

"We're not dumb, Cheliceri," another piped, a male judging by his voice. "I think we'll just hold you here for now. Hey, I heard one of your new friends carried you away earlier? How'd that go? Did you break his arm? Crush his nose?" there was a bitter note in his voice. Not enough to make it feel personal, but something that stirred among all of them as a group.

"Still angry I see," Cheliceri muttered. "I warned Alpha 8 and she didn't listen."

"You broke her arm, you asshole," the other agent barked. "Our team was put out from missions for a month because of it!"

"Not my fault if Taskmaster doesn't trust you on solo missions," he shrugged.

Bitter feelings indeed, Luke reflected, watching as the agents quivered in poorly concealed restraint to charge the spider.

Just as Cheliceri said.

"They hate me," Luke remembered him saying. "Ever since an incident that happened months ago involving their leader, Alpha 8. She'll be looking to get even."

Well, he knew his stuff. Luke could give him that.

"I don't have time for this," Cheliceri told them.

"Oh, poor little Parker," the agent cooed. "Always on the run from something."

Cheliceri went very still.

Parker.

Huh. Was that Cheliceri's name? Luke could imagine Novae above them, hiding his laughs behind his hand. Parker was the last thing he expected. For someone so dark and silent, he expected something equally despondent.

Cheliceri broke his frozen stance, movements suddenly very slow, very careful, and very smooth. He didn't say anything as he slowly lowered his bo-staff so the tip tapped the floor.

There's the signal.

Luke covered his eyes as Novae came soaring from above, zipping right over Cheliceri, and igniting the entire space in a bright, encasing glow. Luke could see the great flash even through his hands and was blinking past spots of color as he jumped out from behind his hiding spot and charged the agents.

Some had dropped their weapons to rub their eyes crazily, blinded from Novae's attack, which meant they didn't see it coming – literally – when he punched the lights clean out of the first one and body-slammed the next. Cheliceri took care of the third, hitting swiftly with his bo-staff and webbing the agent down. He webbed the other two down too, for good measure.

"Novae," he said as soon as the last one was secured, "Did you get a view of the artifact up there?"

"Yeah," Novae said, puffing his chest. "Farther to the right of where we're at now."

Cheliceri jumped up on the wall, crouching up on its ledge, "And Disciple and Zver?"

"Already on their way."

"Good," Cheliceri walked along the edge, looking back at Luke and Novae. "Let's go give them a hand. Alpha 8 won't make it easy on them."

"Yeah," Luke chuckled, "Neither will Zver."

They took off in a run with Novae showing them the way.

Luke could hear the sounds of battle before he saw it. When he rounded the next corner the battle was askew. For the other team anyway. Zver was having a field day among their ranks, attacking agent after agent with vicious speed.

But, given the drop they had, he would admit that the other team was handling it fairly well. Particularly a bigger, meaty looking agent barking orders at her comrades while making a steady journey toward a floating sphere that was glowing red in the corner. Luke could only guess that that was the artifact.

"Dog," Cheliceri said, "That one," he gestured to the big one, "is Alpha 8. She's tough, very skilled, but I think you can handle her. I'm gonna clear a way for you. Get her away from the artifact."

"That," Luke grinned, punching a fist into his open palm, "I can do."

Cheliceri used the wall to spring himself forward, shot several strands of webs that covered a great clutter of agents, and pulled them to the side in a giant, piled heap. Luke took the opening, plowing down any of the ones who escaped the snare and got in his way.

Alpha 8 was only a few feet from the artifact when Luke's fist clumped into the back of her white uniform and threw her back. She rolled with the sudden throw, rolling up onto her feet with two sparking batons in hand.

"Out of my way, little boy," she growled.

Which Luke would've scoffed at if it hadn't been somewhat true. She was bigger up close, thick with muscle, and a good few solid inches taller than him.

She stalked forward a few feet, crossing the batons in fronts of her in a large X. Luke held up his fist, for once glad that he didn't have his mask on. He wanted to see this enemy clearly if he was going to win.

Then, she was running at him.

Luke dodged the baton aimed for his head but wasn't quick enough when she spun back around and kicked him square in the chest. The hit was heavy enough to send him sprawling on the floor, denting the metal under his back. No sooner did he look up was Alpha 8 back over him, whacking him in the face with her baton and sending a tingling thrill through his skin. It was light, but given the fact that he could actually feel a tingle, must've meant her batons were charged with a near-fatal amount of electric juice.

Luke wondered if that was the reason Cheliceri put him up to fighting Alpha 8. Not because of his physique, but because of his invulnerability.

Smart move, he thought mildly.

Alpha 8 stepped back, somewhat puzzled when her batons did nothing to harm him. Given a second, she huffed, gripping the long shafts tighter.

"Damn supers," he heard her mutter.

"Yeah," Luke said, getting quickly to his feet. "I actually get that a lot."

He rushed at her, managing to grab one of the batons before it could hit his navel, but the other slipped past him and clonked the side of his head. He grimaced, rolling his eyes, and threw her back. She balanced herself quickly again and instead of throwing another hit, as he expected, she jumped, hooking a hand around his neck which she used to twist herself up on him, curl her body, and body-slam him into the ground.

Now straddling him, pinning his arms to his sides, she started punching him. Luke wasn't sure if she was super-powered or not cause hell did she pack a punch! Grunting, unable to see past the blows to his head and throat, Luke bucked, throwing her off balance and quickly took the window to throw her off of him.

She landed on her feet.

"Damn," he groaned, rubbing his chin, "Why can't you just go down already?"

She chuckled at that, and Luke noticed how she didn't look deterred in the slightest. All aside from the slight tremble in her right arm, she looked completely at ease.

Wait...

Her arm...the one Cheliceri broke....

He smiled back at her. "Uh-oh," he muttered, "I think I just figured out a weakness."

Her eyes narrowed at that and she gripped the batons more tightly as if to prove him wrong. Now that he knew, he saw the way her right arm seemed to hesitate when she moved. It was slower than she left was, it didn't hit as hard.

Maybe she could tell what he was thinking cause Alpha 8 squared herself again, teeth gritting, as her eyes all-but dared him to even try. Their hesitance lasted only a second, then they both ran at each other. Alpha 8 swung at him with her right, feinted the hit, and hit him with her left instead.

Which, yep, still could punch really hard with that one.

But he grabbed it before she could withdraw and squeezed. For the first time since meeting her, Luke saw a glimmer of pain in her expression. Victory was close...

He opened his mouth to gloat, but as soon as his lips parted, she shoved her baton into his mouth and zapped him. Electricity ran up along his mouth, shooting throughout the rest of his body, and Luke dropped, twitching and groaning.

Perhaps victory wasn't as close as he thought.

She stepped over him, eyes furious. She rolled her arm back and he knew this next punch was going to really hurt. But before she could release it, she suddenly stumbled, as an arm snaked across her throat and the tip of a gun nozzle rested on her temple. Alpha 8 froze.

Cheliceri was behind her, clinging to her back due to her monstrous size, with the tip of his gun digging into her temple. From the ground, Luke would've laughed at Cheliceri having to climb up her back, like some kind of koala, but his laughter died when Alpha 8's anger increased tenfold. Her breathing was heavy and furious as she glared down at Luke as if this was his fault.

Without saying a word, Cheliceri moved the arm around her neck and opened his palm in front of her face where the glowing red artifact lit up his hand.

"Bang," he deadpanned, bumping the gun into her head. "You're dead." He kicked off her back and landed on the ground.

Slowly, Alpha 8 turned back around, shifting her glare at Chelicer. Then, just as slowly, she nodded, jaw clenched and jerked her head toward her group, all of whom had been either webbed down, injured, or still holding their own against one of Luke's teammates.

They all instantly dropped their stances and followed her silently out of the room, stopping only to untie their comrades and help them out. Cheliceri didn't move until every single one of them left the room, then looked down and, to Luke's miraculous surprise, offered him a hand.

Slowly, hesitant about whether this would end in getting his own arm snapped, he took it, and Cheliceri hefted him off the ground. He turned away as soon as Luke was back on his feet and stalked toward the exit as well. Just before he was out of earshot, Luke heard him muttered, just loud enough for the group to hear, "Good job," then he disappeared out of the room too.

The rest of them stared at the spot he'd been in, then they followed.

Luke noticed that this was the first time none of them complained about the training exercise.

While he still didn't like the idea of this team thing, and Cheliceri was still a sullen stick-in-the-mud, Luke would admit that this training exercise was a little less...terrible, than normal.

And, done! BOO-YA! Hallelujah! Got ourselves a little team-work here!

This was fun. I really like writing their growing dynamic :3

See you in the next update!

-OfficialUSmWriter