The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Planet Eleron)

(Main Campus- Offsite Hangar)

As the instructor placed his hand against the scanner, a green light swept up and down the length of his palm.

Soon the large mechanical doors began to slowly part to reveal a large open space where dozens of mechs, robots and strange metalloid devices could be seen scattered across the hall.

"Follow me," the instructor gruffly spoke as he waved his hand in a lazy manner.

Cleo exchanged a puzzled look with Elenora but walked behind the instructor as he entered the large space.

The new instructor was certainly… unique.

As Cleo got closer, her eyes continued to water as she experienced the awful stench that hung around the instructor's body.

Drew followed behind the two girls but judging from the slight trembling of his fingers, he was also feeling a bit uncomfortable.

The instructor led the three students to the back of the hangar where several work benches had been placed.

On each bench were a variety of instruments and tools.

Some of them Cleo recognised from her course on Mech Repair while the purpose of others remained a mystery.

The instructor turned around and his beady eyes seemed to stare into his students' souls as a twisted grimace flashed across his face.

"Name's Mason…" the instructor finally spoke after a long uncomfortable silence.

"I aint a professor… so just call me by my first name. Now I am here for one purpose and one purpose only."

"To somehow teach you brats how to modify a mech with all sorts of illegal weaponry and cloaking devices."

"I'm not going to repeat myself when teaching so you either learn or go bother the person next to you to explain."

"Do I make myself clear?"

Mason cleared his throat and then spat out a thick wad of sticky phlegm that landed on the floor.

He rubbed the yellow mucus using his boots which caused an expression of disgust to surface on Cleo's face.

"Yes sir…" Elenora hesitantly replied after no one else spoke for several long seconds.

"Don't call me sir… call me Mason," the instructor hissed angrily as he slammed his fist on the workbench.

"Yes Mason," Cleo spoke with barely concealed irritation hidden in her voice.

Why was this instructor so strange?

He didn't look like a proper teacher… hell he didn't even look like a proper member of society!

Mason closed his eyes and his hand reached into one of the pockets of his black cloak.

He pulled out a silver flask and without even looking, he managed to unscrew the top and take a large swig of its contents.

Drew nervously shifted back and forth as he watched the instructor finish the entire contents of the flask before putting it back in his pocket.

"Lesson one… you should be able to modify a mech under any condition… even if you're black out drunk," Mason slurred as he stumbled over to a nearby workbench.

Cleo and her two classmates stayed in place as they watched their instructor fumble around before grabbing the arm of a mech.

He placed the large mechanical arm on the workbench and then grabbed several tools.

He opened up the control panel on the mech's arm and began taking out some of the wires.

This process went on for several minutes until the arm pulsed with an eerie blue light.

"Now… do any of you know what I just did?" Mason asked lazily as he moved away from the arm.

"No…no…" Drew hesitantly replied as he took a step back.

"Maybe you adjusted the controls to make it a bit easier to operate?" Cleo suggested as she leaned forward to get a closer look.

"That's a smart answer… but completely wrong," Mason said with a strange grin on his face. He placed his palm on the mech's arm and gave it two heavy pats.

"I just disabled the safety valves and the backup safety systems. Now this arm will be able to explode with just a single thought."

"But… but why?" Elenora asked with curious expression.

"In a fight tell me girl… who is going to expect that your arm suddenly explodes in their face?" Mason laughed darkly as he spoke.

"Of course, this works best if you also add in a rocket launch system so that you can fire off the arm for a long-range attack but…"

"If you are losing a fight then you might as well take down that bastard with you."

The instructor's harsh giggles echoed through the hangar and there was just one thought running through the minds of his three students.

This man was absolutely insane.

"Alright that's enough for the day… I'm feeling a bit tired… come back tomorrow and we can start working," Mason finally spoke after reaching into his pocket for another flask.

"But Mason… we don't have classes tomorrow," Cleo spoke in a calm voice.

"Doesn't matter… I'll be here at nine o' clock so make sure that you show up or… I'll kick you out of the class or some shit…" Mason groggily replied as he took a large swig from the flask.

Then just as quickly as the lesson started… it abruptly ended in the same manner.

Mason pointed at the doors and the three students walked outside with each having a dazed expression on their face.

"Err… what just happened?" Elenora asked in confusion as her tail drooped slightly.

"He is certainly… a character…" Cleo politely replied. Although 'a character' was a pretty generous way to describe the peculiar instructor.

"I…I think I want to switch majors…" Drew chimed in as he stared upwards at the sky.

"No! Don't do that!" Elenora quickly grabbed the Quafes boy by his shoulder and began to violently rock him back and forth.

"We're all in this together! The dynamic trio!"

"Stop… shaking me… can't… focus…" Drew gritted his teeth and tried his best to escape the tight grip of the overenthusiastic Mendolesa girl.

Ding!

Cleo checked her wrist communicator and saw an incoming message from an unknown number.

For some reason it did not go straight into her spam folder but rather was directed into her personal inbox.

The princess' brows furrowed as she waved goodbye to her friends and began to walk back to her apartment.

There were no more classes left today so her original plan was to spend the afternoon doing further research on vessels.

But now…

There was a mysterious message in her inbox from an unknown number. Cleo waited until she was out of sight of her two classmates and then clicked on the message.

A video began to play, and its contents were shocking.

Cleo could not believe her eyes and when the video finally ended, she pressed the replay button over and over again.

On the other side of the screen was one of her brothers? And not just any one but rather perhaps the most famous…

The crown prince was standing in a room with plain white walls.

There were no identifying features inside the room that gave away its location.

There was a creepy grin on the crown prince's face as he pointed in a certain direction.

A figure was tied up in heavy iron chains with a brown bag over her head. The only reason why Cleo could tell that it was a woman was because of the subtle curves on her body.

The crown prince slowly took off the bag and Cleo saw a woman who bore striking resemblance to her except that she looked about ten or fifteen years older.

She recognised that face immediately.

How could she not know that was her mother?

"My dear sister if you ever want to see your mother again… please come to this location and alone…" Prince Theseus gently whispered.

"Do not tell anyone otherwise I cannot promise that your mother will remain… unharmed…"

"I expect to see you within five days."