The wilds of Colorado 2195
An old man sits around a fire with six teenagers he'd been training to become a part of the Spider movement. He was asked to sit and listen as they formed an idea, "So, you've all come up with code names?"
The youngest David Hardy raised his hand, "I'm Tarantula."
The Old man nodded as his fiddled with his ring, "And the rest of you?"
A boy only slightly older than David named Dennis O'Neil chimed in, "I'm Fiddler Back."
"Shouldn't that be fiddleback?"
"Fiddler Back sounds cooler."
The old man nodded, "Ahh."
A girl named Synthia Carpenter was next, "I'm the Black Widow."
A boy named Daniel Carver stood, "I'm Redback."
The oldest boy named Ed Reilly raised his hand, "Funnelweb."
The Old man turned to the older girl, "And what will yours be Melody?"
Melody O'Neil thought for a moment before saying, "Orbweaver."
He nodded, "Can we have dinner now? We have to be up early."
***
The next day before dawn the group walked toward a Goblin camp. David poked Fiddler Back, "Why do you get the rifle?"
"Because you can't aim for crap and we need precision shooting."
David sighed, "Well, I guess I'll have to settle for kicking Goblin ass while you hide in a bush."
"You see that I have a loaded gun, right?"
The Old man looked back, "If you do your job right, you shouldn't have need to do either."
As they came to a hill overlooking the camp the Old man dropped down, "Tarantula, Widow and Redback will enter the camp, find the objective and bring it back. Fiddler Back, find a decent vantage point. You should be able to see every inch of the camp. Funnelweb and Orbweaver will stand ready to cover your retreat. Be silent and swift."
***
Orbweaver looked to Funnelweb as the rest went where ordered, "We have powers, why aren't we helping Redback?"
"All we can do is spin webs, setting traps is our strong suit, Redback is the strongman but he's far from the most useful here. David is a world class thief and Widow's the best fighter on the team."
She formed an orb of psionic web, "I can do more than spin webs."
Fiddler Back laid on a ridge and hit his comm as he got David in his sights, "You think you can do your job with a bullet in the ass?"
David whispered back, "Don't know, we'll have to ask your mom when we get home."
Redback and Widow glared back,"Shh."
David shrugged, "What?"
They slipped silently past several half asleep guards and made their way to the leaders tent where David slipped in. He tip toed around three women asleep on floor mats as he made his way to the mattress where the leader slept. He sighed as he saw the ring they came for on his finger.
He grabbed a stick that was lying on the ground and lightly poked the man who raised a hand to brush it away and rolled over dropping his hand to his side. David then leaned down and gingerly slid the ring off before slipping back out of the tent.
He came up to Widow, "There all done."
The Old man listened over the comm then sent a message to Fiddler Back, "All right, time to test the rest of them."
He grinned up on the ridge as he aimed for a kerosene tank near the back of the camp, "Get ready to run kids."
The three in the camp attempted to creep away but an explosion from behind roused the guards. Redback sighed, "The old man is testing us again."
David nodded, "We so should have seen that coming."
A guard ran toward them but Widow jumped up and kicked him in the side of the head sending him to the ground as the rest of the camp came out. As the three ran two Goblins jumped in front of Redback with guns but he grabbed them by the throats and slammed them into the ground.
David punched another in the face sending him down as they ran out. Fiddler Back picked off three that blocked their path and the three left running. David shouted to Funnelweb, "Your turn."
A dozen or so Goblins ran from the camp after them. Several were caught in Funnelweb's sticky trap while Orbweaver caught the rest in with her psionic web. The team then made their escape as the confused and angry goblins tried to free themselves.
***
As they found a safe spot to rest Fiddler Back walked up with a chuckle, "The look on your faces was just priceless."
The rest of the group glared as David spoke up, "You're lucky you're armed."
David then tossed the ring to the old man, "Here's your trinket. What's next?"
(To be continued)
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