Archive of Our Own ^beta

Today was October 9th, 2001. Time was around 9 in the morning, and Jeremie Belpois was tired.

The night before, he had spent most of the time he should've been sleeping at the old abandoned factory near Kadic, working at the supercomputer he found on September 25th, exactly two weeks ago. Over the past two weeks, he had been investigating the supercomputer he found, learning a good chunk of its secrets and what it could do.

But, most importantly, he had spent that time talking to Maya, an artificial intelligence he found on the computer which came in the form of a pink-haired elf girl(whom Jeremie found to be really cute). According to what Jeremie and Maya were able to gather, she lived in a virtual reality environment called Lyoko, which housed four different sectors containing different types of terrain, climate, and even different gimmicks. It also contained towers, which Jeremie figured out rather quickly were the visualizations of Lyoko's core databanks and connection points between the real world and the virtual world.

Of course, Maya wasn't totally alone on Lyoko. There were also monsters. Creatures that liked to attack Maya at every turn, all bearing the same eye-like symbol that Jeremie also saw on the supercomputer. While Jeremie hasn't figured out exactly what they were, he's been working with Maya on studying Lyoko to get a better idea of what these things were, and maybe, why those monsters liked attacking Maya.

But until then, he was having no luck. Last night, he had spent nearly all night at the factory trying to communicate with Maya and keeping her safe from the monsters so she could send data to him via the towers. Maya barely escaped with her life and Jeremie felt his heart race the entire night, but they were successful, in the end. Jeremie got the data and Maya was safe in a tower until he could go back to the factory.

However, the thing about staying up all night meant that Jeremie was really, REALLY tired. To the point where, if it weren't for his general keen interest in the sciences and his own sheer will, he would've fallen asleep during Mrs. Hertz's class. And that wasn't a good thing.

And what was worse was that he had to do mathematics next. He wouldn't have a free period he could use to nap until after lunch. Even as a boy who studied mathematics like crazy because of his interest in computer science, he knew he would probably fall asleep if he even tried to force himself to stay awake.

Plus, he was really thirsty, his tongue feeling like sandpaper in his mouth. He needed a drink. And what better drink for a tired boy genius than good old coffee.

"*Yawwwnnnn~~*..."

Jeremie yawned and rubbed his eyes under his glasses as he walked over to Kadic's vending machines, ignoring the usual stares from his fellow students. He was glad he didn't have to break into the teacher's lounge or go off campus for coffee. Although he hated the drink, it has served to be useful to him as a night owl who often worked late into the night on his robots or, more recently, Lyoko.

As Jeremie walked over, he passed by a tall Asian girl wearing black clothing, carrying and stirring a cup of hot chocolate in her hands. He didn't recognize her, so she must be new here. Probably a higher grade than him, considering the height difference. Oh well, Jeremie was more focused on the coffee. Still, the idea of drinking that bitter crud made Jeremie unconsciously run his hand through the hair on the back of his neck.

"Y'know what I was thinking? Y'know your girlfriend there, Sissi?"

"She's NOT my girlfriend!"

Jeremie briefly glanced over to the right as he finally crossed into the alcove that housed the vending machines, seeing two boys who looked around his grade standing there chatting and holding drinks.

The boy he couldn't recognize was a scrawny, short boy with blonde hair with a purple streak in the middle that went down. He was also wearing the wildest outfit Jeremie had ever seen, with a magenta shirt covered by a long-sleeved purple shirt, purple bell bottoms, and yellow shoes. He looked like he was straight out of a sitcom from the early 90's, chatting excitedly with the other boy while carrying an empty cup in his hands.

Meanwhile, Jeremie could recognize the other boy. Scruffy brown hair, a green vest over his lighter green shirt, green cargo pants, and grayish trainers, all the while being taller than Jeremie and the other boy. All the while, sipping on a can of Code Cola and carrying a stand-offish air to him.

Ulrich Stern.

Jeremie was familiar with him. Stern and Jeremie had been boarders at Kadic Academy together the school year before, and they were decent enough acquaintances (as in they weren't at each other's throats or really friends. Just acquaintances.). However, aside from occasionally working together on assignments and being dorm neighbors, Jeremie barely knew anything about Stern. All he knew was what everyone else knew at Kadic.

Kept to himself, didn't cause any trouble but didn't care for the rules, star player on the soccer team, barely survived his classes, and was a practiced student of the martial arts. Other than that, Stern was an enigma. Honestly, Jeremie didn't mind.

The fact that Stern wasn't an in-crowd kid meant that he was trustworthy and reliable, and the fact that he mostly kept to himself and didn't care much for the rules meant that he didn't really question any of Jeremie's more...questionable choices in regards to his computing and going out. Which made him even more trustworthy in Jeremie's eyes.

Still, he barely knew him.

"COOOLLLLL~!"

Ignoring the two boys, Jeremie then proceeded to walk past them as the wild boy crinkled his cup and threw it into the trash can, Jeremie fishing a single 1-euro coin from his pockets. Just a few more steps and he would finally have coffee.

"So that means she's available."

Jeremie finally reached the drink dispenser machine, at long last. Jeremie was struggling to keep his eyes open at this point and could barely see what was on the machine. However, he knew by habit and seeing the machine thousands of times before that coffee was number 6. As such, he didn't notice the small, strange-looking spider that was slowly crawling its way down the display.

"I'm telling you, she's lame."

Jeremie, being guided by muscle memory alone, inserted the euro into the coin slot.

"Plus, no offense, but you're not her type."

Jeremie was barely awake now, struggling to keep his eyes open as his hand glided toward button number 6. So close to coffe-

Jeremie's eyes suddenly shot wide open as he felt something crawl over his hand. He only had time to register that it was a spider before-

"Oh yeah, I've heard that one al-"

*KRRT!*

"AH!"

Suddenly, a sharp and sudden pain struck the back of Jeremie's hand, causing Jeremie to shout in pain and forcing his other hand to slap the back of it.

*BLAPT!*

"BELPOIS!"

Owwww, that stings...

Jeremie felt a numbing ache overcome his bitten hand as he looked to his other one to figure out what bit him, unaware of the footsteps rapidly heading towards him.

It was a spider, black all over with 8 spindly legs. All the while, it had a familiar crimson eye on the end of its thorax. The Eye of Lyoko.

"H-How-"

Jeremie felt a sudden wave of nausea overtake him, causing him to collapse to the floor and for his glasses to fall off. His vision blurred as whatever venom the spider had began coursing through him like running water, the pain spreading all over his arm. All the while, his hand throbbed like crazy and he began sweating so much that his skin felt like he just got out of a shower.

"Hey, Belpois, you okay?!"

He couldn't really concentrate on his surroundings, whoever was in front of him now just a blob of peach, brown, and green. However, he could still hear somewhat clearly, and could recognize that voice from a mile away.

"S-Stern..."

He barely felt his glasses come back on his face, the arm that had the bitten hand now almost numb and throbbing as well. He could feel his sweater and the shirt underneath begin to stick to his skin, and he had a coppery aftertaste in his mouth. His awareness of the world outside his body was fading, and his only reliable source of information was his sense of hearing, which was slowly becoming muffled.

"I'll take him to the infirmary. Tell a teacher, okay?"

Even voices were now becoming somewhat distant to Jeremie as he felt something grip both of his shoulders. However, he could still guess that it was probably Stern ordering his new friend around.

Jeremie suppressed the urge to vomit as he felt his body get lifted upward, his numb arm wrapping around something. Jeremie was barely conscious at this point, but he knew it had to be Stern's shoulders.

He could barely feel his legs walking for him as the numbness and throbbing spread over his entire body and he began feeling hot.

"Hot..."

He didn't know if anyone had heard his meek voice or not. He honestly was in too much agony to care.

His skin became covered in goosebumps as Jeremie tried to fight the urge to pass out. He could hear vestiges of a single male voice in his ear, and murmurs of several others in the background. His entire world was a smear of colors, shapes, and silhouettes, and his mind was slowly becoming a coagulated mess of distant thoughts. So numb, so exhausted, so hot, that spider...

"So...tired...spider..."

Jeremie finally lost the battle, and collapsed, falling out of whatever was holding him up and into a world of sleep and unconsciousness.

Belpois...Belpois...

Nghhhh...what was that?

Belpois?

Was that...his name? That voice...

"Hey, Belpois!"

Jeremie's eyes began to flutter open as his senses slowly came back to him, the first thing he registered in his vision was a flood of white that burned into his retinas.

Wha....Where was he?

Jeremie could feel his clothes sticking to his body, soaked and covered in gallons of sweat. All the while, his eyes fluttered open some more and it wasn't long before he realized that the flood of white was just a bright light that was right above him.

"Belpois, can you hear me?!"

Jeremie...recognized that voice.

Jeremie still barely felt anything in his body, using all of his strength to turn his head slightly in the direction of the voice. It took only a glance to recognize who it was.

"S-Stern...is that you?"

The boy's previous look of concern was replaced with relief and elation, leaning over Jeremie's body and placing his hands on the surface that Jeremie was lying on. It took only a few seconds to realize he was on a bed, linen sheets rubbing against his bare skin and clinging to his sweat-soaked clothes.

"Oh thank god...Man, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

Jeremie's awareness was coming back piecemeal now, turning his head around to figure out where he was in the universe as Stern ran his hands through his hair.

"W-Where am I?"

Stern didn't break the large smile that was on his face as he explained.

"You're in the infirmary. The nurse's just out giving an excuse note to our teachers."

Oh yeah, this did look like the infirmary. The medicine cabinet in the back, first aid kits, similarly linen-covered beds, the pale walls, the large windows, those stupid bright lights...

Yup, definitely the infirmary.

"What happened?"

His memory of what happened before he passed out was a blur. The last thing he remembered was something biting him and feeling a whole world of pain right after.

Meanwhile, Stern didn't waste a second, his smile shrinking into an inquisitive look.

"You got bit by something, I think. Didn't see what it was, since you literally slapped it the moment it bit you. Think it was a spider, though, since you were mumbling about it before you passed out."

Stern then took a seat on the bed as Jeremie tried to push himself up into a sitting position.

!

"AH!"

Jeremie winced as he felt a sharp pain strike one of his hands. He looked down at it in shock, only to see a bandage covering what Jeremie assumed to be the spider bite.

"Yeah, I would be careful about that hand for a while, Belpois..."

Jeremie rolled his eyes as he used his elbow and his non-bitten hand to sit himself on the bed.

"Anyway, why are you not back in class? Why did you stay with me?"

Stern's ears turned pink as he began rubbing the back of his head, a scrunched and uncomfortable expression written across his face.

"Well...I was worried about you. You literally passed out from a spider bite, a-and I...wanted to make sure you were okay, Belpois. I-In case that spider was poisonous or something."

Wow, that was...oddly considerate of him. Stern wasn't one to put himself out there for people, but then again, the boy didn't really have any friends at Kadic. Just acquaintances, like Jeremie. Maybe he was worried about him because they were classmates.

However, Jeremie DID have to correct him on one thing.

"Actually, spiders can't be poisonous, since their venom is produced in the glands in their fangs and needs to be digested along with their liquefied prey. If it was poison, they would be killing themselves by ingesting their own enzymes. However, the venom in their glands is meant only to cause damage directly, not via the digestive system. Hence the term 'venomous'."

Stern chuckled, for once in the boy's life not scoffing at Jeremie being matter-of-fact with him.

"S' Good to know that you're being condescending again. Usually, I would hate it, but after the scare you gave me..."

Jeremie was genuinely surprised by what Stern said.

"Am I condescending?"

That made Stern laugh loud and hard.

"HAHAHA! YEAH, MAN! Have you heard your own lectures? You can be REALLY condescending and ignorant of other people's intelligence sometimes."

Stern continued to laugh as Jeremie looked down at his hands in contemplation. Was he really that condescending?

"HAHAhahah..."

Stern pushed himself off the bed and turned toward Jeremie with a small smile on his face as his laughter died down.

"Anyway, do you mind if I leave you? I need to head to my martial arts class, and since I know you're okay..."

Honestly, a small part of Jeremie didn't want Stern to leave. This is probably the first time since he was enrolled at Kadic that he had someone genuinely hang out with him, outside of required assignments, people sitting at his table during meals, Lyoko data retrieval, and the like. It was nice having a little human interaction for once after weeks of speaking only with either his parents or Maya. Especially from a trustworthy and familiar face like Stern.

However, Jeremie knew that martial arts was important to Stern, like how his computer was important to him. So, he gave permission.

"Go on ahead, Stern. I'm feeling a lot better now, so I'll head up to my room."

Stern nodded.

"Okay, and by the way, the nurse said you have the day off. Just take pain meds for your hand and you'll be fine."

BRILLIANT!

His day ended early for him! He could go to the factory much sooner than normal. To Lyoko. To Maya.

Jeremie mentally fist-pumped at the thought of seeing Maya again as he used his non-bitten hand to wave goodbye.

"Alright, see you!"

"See you, Belpois! I'll come by to check on you tonight after dinner!"

*Click!*

*BANG!*

Okay...so he probably had until around after dinner. Plenty of time to go check on Lyoko and chat with Maya.

Jeremie, now feeling more chipper than ever and ready to tackle the world, turned and pushed himself off of his bed. He then stretched his arms for a second before walking towards the door.

Oddly enough, as he reached for the door handle, he did notice that his face felt a little...naked. But oh well, it might be that he's so used to wearing glasses that it practically felt like nothing. So, Jeremie just shrugged his shoulders and opened the door.

*Click!*

Jeremie whistled excitedly as he walked out of the infirmary and into the hallway, giddy over the idea of seeing Maya again. However, he failed to notice the glint that lay on the stand right next to his infirmary bed, waiting patiently for him. And then, unaware of the events about to unfold...

*BANG!*

Sadly, the giddiness didn't really last.

"HEY, BELPOIS!"

Jeremie sighed as he recognized that voice, turning his head to see Herve Pichon, an absolute weasel of a boy, shouting indignantly from the top of the stairs. Jeremie had barely made his way into the dorms and he had found his first obstacle. And it made Jeremie feel annoyed.

Herve absolutely HATED Jeremie's guts. Blame winning the robot contests, outdoing him in class, and being considered Kadic's boy genius for that. Honestly, Jeremie didn't really share the same attitude since he found Herve's hatred of him to be immature, especially since Herve was really smart of his own accord. If only he focused on improving his own studies instead of just one-upping Jeremie...

But at the same time, Herve WAS between him and talking with Maya, which Jeremie found to be REALLY infuriating.

"Herve, I'm not in the mood..."

Herve and his best friend, the goblin-like Nicholas, climbed down the stairs toward Jeremie, Herve carrying a face of mean-spirited delight and Nicholas just acting as emotional support.

"Um, yeah, you are!"

Jeremie sighed and gripped his binder that he found right outside the infirmary, waiting for whatever Herve was planning to come to fruition so he could move on with his day. If only he had Stern right now...

"What happened to your glasses?"

!

HUH!?

"What do you mean 'what happened to my glasses'?! I'm wearing them r-"

But as Jeremie flew his hand up to his face to confirm he was wearing his glasses, he felt...nothing. Just his skin and nothing more. There was nothing on his face. HIS GLASSES WEREN'T THERE!

But at the same time, he could see everything clearly. The back wall, the staircase, the now-befuddled, acne-covered faces of Herve and Nicholas, the mail lockers. Normal 20/20 vision.

However, that was impossible. Jeremie had severe near-sightedness. Without his glasses, he shouldn't be able to see anything. Herve and Nicholas should be nothing but blobs of colors to him and nothing more.

But...he could see clearly. For the first time in who knew how long, he could see without his glasses...

"Belpois?"

Honestly, he was oscillating between whether he should be joyous over the fact that his eyesight had been cured or horrified, his eyes widening and his mouth opening and closing as he desperately tried to find some semblance of language.

"H-How-"

His mind ran through five million different thoughts a second as he tried to rationalize why his vision had suddenly cleared up. However, despite being the boy genius of Kadic and being able to even understand a supercomputer by himself, his mind went blank. He couldn't possibly think of a logical explanation for whatever was happening to him. And nothing terrified him more than being unable to think of a logical explanation for something.

"Hey, are you listening?!"

!

A voice suddenly entered real close to his ear and Jeremie, having been shocked by the sudden noise, jumped back and shielded himself from it, desperate to save his hearing.

"AH-!"

However, when he opened his eyes again, he saw a look of absolute shock and awe on Herve and Nicholas's faces, staring at Jeremie as if he won a thousand gold medals in the Olympics.

"Huh? What are you two-"

Jeremie then looked down.

He realized then and there that he wasn't touching the floor at all. He looked up to figure out why, only to see one hand laying flat against the ceiling as if glued to it by some twisted law of gravity.

...If Jeremie wasn't panicking before, he sure was now.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, GET ME DOWN!"

He was not scared of heights. However, he was scared about the fact that his hand was suddenly glued to the ceiling. At first, he tried to push off the ceiling with his other bandaged hand, but he soon realized that it too also became attached to the ceiling. Just his luck...

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

As he desperately used the rest of his limbs to push himself off the ceiling, he could hear Herve and Nicholas both pass out, collapsing to the floor and practically leaving Jeremie all alone to figure out how to get himself unstuck.

*BOOMF-BOOMF!*

"Come on, come on, stop sticking!"

He thought shouting at his hands to stop sticking would work...It did not.

"COME ON, COME O-"

!

Suddenly, Jeremie stopped pushing against the ceiling, his body becoming overwhelmed by a singular, pulsating sensation. It was like his body was overcome with goosebumps, screaming into his nerves and bringing to him a sudden awareness of nearly anything and everything in a nearby radius. It was like his body was telling him-

"Hey, Tamiya, wanna go get that interview with Ulrich Stern for our report about the soccer match against Francoise Dupont?"

CRUD, MILLY!

Jeremie did NOT want Milly to find him like this. At best, she'll realize that something is horribly wrong with him, and at worst, he's the front page news. Either way, bad things will happen if Milly OR Tamiya see him. He's already freaked out Herve and Nicholas, he doesn't need to freak out anyone else, much less the school's resident amateur reporters.

"Sure thing! I think he's taking Jim's Martial Arts class right now."

Shoot, he could hear them coming down the dorm stairs. Sure, the girls' dorm was a floor higher than the boys' dorm, but he still didn't have enough time to figure out how to get down from the ceiling.

Jeremie, panicking and desperate to come up with a solution, realized that all four of his limbs were now stuck to the ceiling and he needed to think of something fast if he were to not be discovered.

*Bzzzzztt...*

?

Jeremie turned to his right as he heard a low buzzing sound near his ear. It took only a glance to realize that it was from a small fly that happened to be investigating him.

The small fly, now scared by Jeremie's sudden movement, landed right next to his bandaged hand on the ceiling. He then watched as it skittered away from him before taking off again, leaving the boy as the only one on the ceiling.

Despite it being just a fly, it gave Jeremie an idea.

Keeping his body calm as much as he could while still definitely panicking, Jeremie looked down at and gently tugged his non-injured hand.

Then, as if by magic, it was free from the ceiling.

Jeremie would've cheered if not for the footsteps he heard slowly coming down the dorm stairs.

Jeremie, holding his breath, then placed his hand right back on the ceiling but a lot farther from him this time.

It stuck right on.

...It could work.

Jeremie, now relieved that his plan might work  but still a little nervous, slowly began removing his limbs from the ceiling and planting them right back on much farther from him, slowly crawling over to an alcove next to the staircase. Honestly, what he was doing right now should be impossible in regards to human biology and physics, but then again, supercomputers that run virtual worlds filled with monsters and cute girls in the basements of abandoned factories was straight out of science fiction.

However, with a little luck and a lot of suspension of his own logic, he was able to make it to the alcove, pressing his hands to the ceiling and pressing his legs against the back wall. He hoped he was hidden from the view of the staircase.

"So, Milly, what questions should we ask him?"

And just in time, Tamiya's voice rang as loud as thunder now.

"I don't know. Maybe we can confirm the rumor about Sissy being Ulrich's girlfrie-"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two girls stop in their tracks, their bodies facing directly to the still-passed out Herve and Nicholas. Jeremie braced himself for the shrill scream that escaped from Milly’s mouth.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

"HERVE, NICHOLAS!" He heard Tamiya shout.

Panic now obviously overcoming them, Milly and Tamiya ran towards the unconscious boys.

"Hey, you two! Are you okay?!" Milly said as she began shaking the unconscious Herve vigorously.

Taking advantage of the fact that Milly and Tamiya were distracted, Jeremie crawled out of the alcove and began nervously moving over to the stairs.

"Tamiya, get a big kid! We need to get them both to the infirmary!"

"RIGHT!"

Just as Jeremie finally climbed over to the stairs, he heard the door open...

*Click!*

And as he forced his body to detach itself from the ceiling, pieces of the drywall still stuck to his hands...

*BANG!*

"WAH-"

*BOOMFT!*

Oww...

Jeremie rubbed his behind as he got up and slowly made his way up the staircase, praying that the bang from the door closing covered up the noise from his rough fall.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before he saw the door that led to the boys' dorm. Exhausted and terrified by what was happening to him, he grabbed the handle on the door and yanked it back.

*SHRINK!*

That turned out to be a horrible mistake as the door was ripped off its hinges and thrown down the stairs, leaving a thousand dents in the wall and floor as it did.

*CRASH!*

"AH!"

Shoot!

Another wave of panic shot through Jeremie as he began running towards his dorm, scared and frustrated tears now flowing in his eyes. What was happening to him?! Why was he suddenly strong enough to rip a door OFF OF IT'S HINGES with just a strong yank?! Why was he overcome with that weird sensation before he heard Milly's voice?! Why was he sticking to the ceiling like a-

As Jeremie began reaching for his dorm room door handle, he paused, a realization now dawning on him as clear as day.

H-He was on the ceiling...like a spider.

B-But that was impossible. Completely illogical. Stuff that only appeared in conspiracy theories. 11 year olds don't get bitten by spiders and suddenly gain superpowers. That was impossible, completely in the realm of fantasy and science fiction. Like something out of those comics he saw other kids read during class.

But...then again, despite how stupid it sounded in his head...it made much more sense than anything else. He crawled along the ceiling and walls like a spider, he ripped off the door with strength that was like if a human had the proportional strength of a spider…

AHHH, SCREW IT! He needed to experiment more before he jumped to the conclusion that a random spider that bit him at the drink dispenser machine was the reason he literally ripped a door off of its hinges and stuck to the ceiling like an insect.

However, being really careful now, Jeremie gently gripped the door handle to his dorm and turned it slightly. He prayed that, with his extra caution, that his door wouldn’t also be ripped off.

Thankfully, it did not come off of its hinges. Holy cow...

However, Jeremie wasn't also taking any chances of Milly seeing him. She was smart and would probably figure out that HE was the one who ripped off the door. So, as he heard her footsteps rapidly come up the stairs, Jeremie ran into his room and slammed the door shut.

*BANG!!!!*

Suddenly, on the frames of his door, several cracks in the drywall began to appear, as if slammed in by a superhuman...which he guessed he was now.

First the supercomputer, now this...his life was becoming something straight out of an action movie now.

Jeremie, frustrated by what was going on, covered his face with his drywall-covered hands and collapsed on his bed, screaming them like he just spent an entire day trying to workshop bugs in his programs.

This has been the weirdest day of his ent-

*TWIP!*

“AH!”

Suddenly, all at once, a weird substance attached itself onto Jeremie's face, covering his eyes and his nose. It felt sticky yet smooth, and felt like he had stuck his face into a giant thick cobweb.

"AHHH!"

Shocked by the weird substance, Jeremie desperately clawed at his eyes, flailing around his room as he did so. He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel his body collide with nearly everything in his room.

*BANG!* *BAM!* *Bip!* *CLANG!*

"AAAAHHHH!"

Jeremie then collapsed and started rolling around on the floor frantically, desperate to remove this weird stuff from his face. He wanted to be able to see again-

“*GASP!*”

At long last, Jeremie finally saw something other than the darkness from the inside of his eyelids, his bed and the poster of Albert Einstein hanging above it now mere meters from his body.

Jeremie, finally glad that it was over, sat up on the floor and looked down at his hands, which were holding the weird substance that had blinded him. And it was…strange.

It was white, silk-like, and very stringy. It felt sticky yet very smooth to the touch and, when Jeremie tried to pinch the substance, it glued his fingers together for a few seconds. Heck, it was so sticky that it removed all of the drywall that had glued itself to Jeremie’s hands, pieces of it now suspended in the substance.

“What is this?”

The substance oddly reminded him of the cobwebs that littered Kadic’s room corners and the factory, feeling stringy and sticking to his fingers like how those cobwebs stuck to his clothes every time he ran into them.

But where did it come f-

?

Jeremie noticed a weird mark on the top of his wrist, a pale mark that looked kind of like a blotch of paint. Curious, Jeremie put down the web-like substance that was in his hands and moved his thumb to the base of the other wrist.

It felt…bumpy and warm. Like there was something there, underneath his skin and creating itself a home in his wrist. Humans didn’t have this mark naturally, and Jeremie didn’t have any birthmarks, especially in those areas. Could this be a blister?

He didn’t remember burning himself on those areas though. Maybe this is a symptom of that-Actually, no, it can’t be that. There was no way a spider bite would cause him to develop random blisters on his wr-

*TWIP!*

“AH!”

Jeremie screamed as the same stringy white substance from before suddenly shot itself out of the base of his palm, going across his room in seconds and hitting his desktop monitor. When all was said and done, there was a single, thick, string-like rope of white silk spanning nearly the entire length of his dorm. And it came from his wrist.

IT CAME FROM HIS WRIST!

Jeremie, shocked and terrified, backed away from the long silvery rope, it quickly detaching from Jeremie’s wrist as he scooted his butt so far that he started climbing up on his door.

“AAAAHHHHH!!!!!”

THAT STUFF WAS COMING OUT OF HIM?! HOW?!?!

Several thousands theories about the past ten minutes ran through Jeremie’s mind like wildfire, his body detaching itself from the door and his hands rushing up to hold his head as everything Jeremie knew came crashing down.

His vision suddenly was 20/20 again, he stuck to the ceiling like a bug, he felt that weird sensation before Milly shouted, he ripped that door off of it’s hinges, and now, he had these weird blisters on his wrists that could suddenly jet out a weird web-like substance.

What was happening to him?! This wasn’t natural. Humans didn’t do those things, much less 11-year old boys from France. Whatever was happening to him was completely in the realm of science fiction, farther away from the true nature of reality than even the supercomputer.

It was like some entity out there wanted to destroy his sense of reality piece by piece, his perception of what was real and was what was in the realm of science fiction blurring for every second he spent hyperventilating on the floor of his room.

He then looked at his hands again as his hyperventilating reached its climax, staring at the blotches on his wrists where, mere minutes ago, a thin spindly web sprung out and hit his co-

!

HIS COMPUTER! HE COULD RESEARCH WHAT WAS HAPPENING!

His mind now switching to the pride and joy of Jeremie’s livelihood, Jeremie leaped up from the ground and ran over to his desk, desperately ignoring the thin web that extended out from his monitor. Then, he reached over to press the ON button…

When Jeremie froze in place, the strange sensation from before screaming at him from all over his body. His nerves, clawing at his skin, all of them commanding that he-

*BZZT!*

Suddenly, his computer turned on, despite him having not touched the start button. However, the display wasn’t one he was familiar with.

His apps, his personal diary, his connection to Lyoko, even his dashboard and background…gone.

The only thing that was there was a single symbol. One that he remembered distinctly. From the monsters on Lyoko to the display on the supercomputer to-

!

THE SPIDER!

“You’re the thing that created that spider!” Jeremie shouted as he pointed accusatorily toward the logo on his monitor, his anger reaching a tipping point. This thing was what was behind everything!

The supercomputer, the monsters on Lyoko, that spider that bit him and possibly gave him superpowers…

IT WAS ALL THIS THING!

However, whatever was behind that logo did not speak, despite Jeremie’s accusatory point. Heck, it did not even glitch or indicate that it heard Jeremie.

All it did was…stay on his computer, the eye staring into his soul like a laser. Uncaring, unwavering, and completely, totally inhuman.

But the tension in the room quickly reached a boiling point as Jeremie felt the goosebumps again, screaming at him to-

*...whirrrrrRRRRRRRR!!!!!*

JUMP!

Suddenly, one of his robots from his desk turned on and jumped forward, pouncing toward where Jeremie once stood like a savage animal.

“What the-?!”

Why were his robots attacking him? HE CREATED THEM AND THEY WERE OFF JUST A FEW SECONDS AGO!

Jeremie felt another wave of goosebumps overtake him as another robot of his suddenly turned on and charged at him. He barely flipped away from that attack (When was he able to flip, he had no idea. Another item on the dossier of questions he was going to experiment with and research later.).

“Get back!”

Not thinking of any other options, and seeing his own creations trying to corner him, Jeremie pressed his fingers to the base of his wrist instinctively. He didn’t really think about it or even plan around it, he just…did.

*TWIP!*

Suddenly, a web sprung itself out of Jeremie’s wrists and immediately impacted one of his robots, sending it flying into his wall and sticking it there. The robot then whirred for a few seconds before shutting down.

*SPLAT!*

“YES-”

*WHIRRRRRRR!!!!!*

Just as Jeremie fist-pumped at one of his attackers being immobilized, sudden electrical sparks began exploding out of the two remaining robots, who then rammed at Jeremie at incredible speeds.

“AAH!”

Jeremie, guided by only his fight-or-flight response, jumped onto the wall where his door was before climbing up above it rapidly, narrowly avoiding the electricity that flew around the room like wildfire as even more drywall and paint began sticking to his fingers. His two remaining robots then turned their servos toward Jeremie, as if whatever was controlling them was staring at him with the fury of a thousand suns.

If there was one good thing about…whatever was happening to him, it was making it easy to avoid these attacks. It made Jeremie feel good that whatever was trying to kill him did not anticipate this. Like this thing didn’t intend to give Jeremie superpowers and was now dealing with the consequences of it.

“HAHA, MISSED ME!” Jeremie yelled defiantly, a sudden spike of confidence coming out of his delight to see the machines struggle to reach him.

However, it was immediately replaced with tension as his body was covered with goosebumps again. He only had a fraction of a second before-

*Click!*

*WHAM!*

Suddenly, from below him, his front door opened, the light from the dorm hallway now spilling into his dorm like rays from heaven.

And there, standing in the doorway, now with a surprised look on his face…was Stern.

“What the-”

Stern, completely caught off guard by the robots, didn’t even have the chance to dodge before they rammed at him, climbing all over him like vicious baboons.

“AGH, GET OFF ME!”

It wasn’t long before Stern quickly became overwhelmed by the robots, shocking his legs and sending the poor boy to his knees. And when he tried to use his arms to swat them away, the robot with the claw grip began sending severe electrical shocks through them as well.

“AAAAAAH!”

One of the robots then latched itself onto Stern’s face like a face hugger, covering his breathing holes before sending out even more electricity and sparks.

At this, Stern’s body spasmed out of control, the poor boy unable to move his limbs in any meaningful way as his screams filled the dorm and Jeremie’s nightmares. But Jeremie was petrified, too scared.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

Watching from up above the door as his heart pounded in his chest, Jeremie felt his goosebumps grow and grow. Despite being a kid who didn’t like looking for trouble, or even avoided making friends to save himself the pain of confrontation, he couldn’t just leave Stern there and do nothing.

Stern carried him to the infirmary and made sure he was completely okay before moving on with his life, despite just being an acquaintance of Jeremie’s. He stayed by his side when most usually left Jeremie to suffer. He helped him when no one else would.

Jeremie needed to do the same to Stern.

“Get away from him!” Jeremie shouted before angling one of his hands towards the robot who was facehugging Stern. Then, with a press on his wrist…

*TWIP!*

The robot was sent flying off of Stern’s face, the older boy gasping for air as the robot landed meters away from him as a ball of silk. The other robot stopped for a second, as if confused by what happened.

“*GAAASSSPPPP!!*”

Now free from the shock on his face, Stern took advantage of the robot’s momentary distraction and kicked it using his free leg, sending it careening into Jeremie’s Einstein poster.

“YA!”

*KRTT!*

*SSHHHRRIIIIPPPP!!*

Dang it, his poster…oh well, at least Stern was okay. That mattered a lot more than a stupid poster any day of the week.

Stern sat on the ground for a few seconds, hyperventilating and attempting to regain his composure as the boy stared at the ball of silk that was once a robot trying to suffocate him to death. Obviously, Stern didn’t expect to be fighting for his life when he entered Jeremie’s room. Neither did Jeremie, honestly.

“What…the…heck…”

Stern was facing away from him, staring at where his desk was rather than the door, but Jeremie knew his mind was probably running with five million different questions about what the heck just happened to him.

To be honest, Jeremie was too.

The last hour or so of his life has been terrifying and confusing for him. Everything he knew about him, everything he knew about what was possible, completely shattered like glass. He had turned from the local boy genius with a penchant for computer science to a freak of nature, a superhuman.

And all Jeremie wanted now…was to understand what was going on. To understand why and how he was the way he was. To make all of the uncertainty and confusion go away.

But, at the same time…he felt like he couldn’t keep this to himself. Sure, the factory and the supercomputer inside it was one thing, but this?!

This was a whole other can of worms. He literally lost his humanity, so to speak. That was way more nerve-wracking than discovering a supercomputer with a virtual girl inside it. He didn’t want to be alone in figuring out how everything was changing for him.

This secret was too much to bear and Jeremie was only 11.

…He needed someone he could confide in. Someone he could trust with all of his secrets. That way, the pain of having to deal with this wouldn’t rest solely on Jeremie’s shoulders.

And there was only one person he could think of for that. One person he would trust his life with. One person who knew Jeremie before this happened. One man who Jeremie had trusted a million times before.

And thankfully, Jeremie didn’t have to travel far to find him.

*BANG!*

“WA-”

Stern, shocked by the door suddenly closing because of Jeremie’s foot, snapped his body around, his hands entering a defensive combat stance while his pupils shrunk and his face tensed.

His body relaxed, however, when he found that nothing was there, the boy sighing with relief as his arms fell to his sides. But since the door was closed, there was barely any light in the room.

However, Jeremie didn’t need light to climb his way over to the wall on his right.

“*Gulpp…*...”

Jeremie, nervous about how Stern would react to him, gulped as he tried to detach himself safely from the wall. But his fingers kept sticking. Jeremie became desperate to rip himself off the wall as his limbs seemed to disobey him.

“Stop sticking!” Jeremie whispered angrily to his hands.

“Just the door…it was just the door, Ulrich…” Stern muttered as he turned back around toward Jeremie’s desk.

Jeremie continued pulling, begging for his appendages to be free of the drywall. However, instead of Jeremie getting his wish, the paint began coming off with his hands.

“Okay, now I gotta tell Belpois that his door was unlo-”

*WAHM!*

“UAAHHH!!!”

!

*BOOMF!*

OWWW…

He needed to get better at detaching himself from surfaces, he realized. Jeremie rubbed his behind as he pushed himself off the floor just to see Stern shoot up and enter a firm, but obviously very nervous, combat stance before trying to strike Jeremie.

“HIYA-”

“WOAHWOAHWOAHWOAH-STERN, IT’S ME!”

Jeremie quickly flew his debris-covered hands up to his face defensively as the now-familiar goosebumps sensation went haywire again. However, it quickly went away just as Stern’s hand lightly collided with Jeremie’s.

"Belpois?”

Jeremie lowered his hands at the same time as Stern’s, the taller boy looking at him with a bewildered look on his face. Stern could tell something was off with Jeremie. What it was, though, Stern had no idea.

“How the heck did you sneak up behind me?” Stern asked as Jeremie breathed in and out rapidly, Stern’s confusion and Jeremie’s nerve now mixing together to create tension in the room.

“Stern, I need you to trust me.” Jeremie exhaled as he gripped Stern’s shoulders and pulled him closer to his face. Stern probably realized that Jeremie’s grip was suddenly stronger and that pieces of drywall stuck to his hands, because his eyes went wide and his body stiffened under Jeremie’s touch.

“Belpois, where are your glasses? I thought you said you hated wearing contacts!”

Jeremie knew Stern was holding back a lot more questions, probably thinking that Jeremie’s suddenly powerful grip was just a trick on his imagination. Jeremie didn’t really blame him for that.

“Stern, listen to me very carefully.”

Stern, however, ignored him and shook off his shoulder grasp, the worry on his face becoming even more prevalent as he tried backing away from him. There was a very obvious tremor in the way he moved and it was clear that Stern was thinking that something was terribly wrong with Jeremie.

“Belpois, I-I don’t know what’s going on here, but your robots just tried to kill me and you’re acting REALLY weird.”

“STERN, LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE!”

Stern, however, didn’t listen, picking up his pace and finding his back right up against the door. It was obvious he was very scared by what happened in the past few minutes, his hand zooming all around the door looking for the handle.

“Look, Belpois, you’re a nice guy, and probably the smartest kid in all of Kadic, but I think you need to see the nurse-” 

“STERN, JUST LISTEN TO ME!”

*TWIP!*

Out of frustration and desperation, Jeremie didn’t realize that he had instinctively shot web out of his hands again until he saw a sudden blotch of white cover where the door handle once was.

“WAH!”

At the sudden appearance of the web, Stern screamed and jumped away from the door, shocked by the webbing that suddenly covered every surface of that metallic door knob. Out of desperation to figure out where it came from, Stern darted his eyes around Jeremie’s room.

But nothing else was there. The only living things in the room were Jeremie and Stern.

Stern then looked down at Jeremie’s hands, which were still in the web-shooting position that Jeremie had acquired. He then looked up at Jeremie’s face, the young genius panting and sweat nearly covering every inch of his head. At this, Stern’s pupils shrunk.

“...Did that come out o-”

Jeremie ran over lightning fast and covered Stern’s mouth just as goosebumps began running down his entire body again, pinning Stern to the wall opposite of his bed as time seemed to slow around him.

“AH-”

“Shh! Jim…”

Both Jeremie and Stern stayed silent as Jeremie began hearing the mighty and powerful footsteps of Jim Morales, crashing down through the hallway with stomps that reverberated throughout the dorms on this floor. 

Odd…Jim usually never came out this early to do curfew check.

But, considering the door to the boys’ dorm was now currently detached and possibly destroyed because of Jeremie…yeah, it made sense he would do it early this time.

Meanwhile, Jeremie and Stern held their breath as the footsteps slowly passed, Jim’s humming heard briefly at the apex of the stomps and his shadow seen from the foot of Jeremie’s door.

It was nervewracking, hearing the man stomp through the halls like a warden in a prison filled with the deadliest scum known to mankind. It made Jeremie feel like Jim could burst in at any moment and find not only Stern in his room, pinned up against his wall, but also several feet of strange web and his robots in various stages of disrepair. Which was not great…

Then, the stomps began to fade, Jim’s whistling disappearing into the night as quickly as it came.

However, Jeremie didn’t move an inch until Jim’s footsteps completely faded into silence.

“*GASP!*”

When Jeremie moved back and unpinned Stern, the boy quickly grabbed his knees and gasped, as if Jeremie had been holding Stern in a chokehold for the entire duration of Jim walking down the hall. Considering his strength now, Jeremie wasn’t really surprised, and more so worried.

“When…the hell…did…you get…so…strong?!”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out for the past hour!”

Jeremie began rubbing his forehead and pacing as Stern recovered from Jeremie’s near-chokehold, standing straight and following Jeremie’s pacing with a worried look in his eyes.

“One moment, I was busy heading to my dorm. The next, I realized I can see clearly WITHOUT my glasses, I made Herve and Nicholas faint because my hand somehow stuck to the ceiling-”

“Wait, you’re the reason Tamiya interrupted my martial arts class?!”

Oh, so she got Stern to carry Herve and Nicholas to the infirmary. Okay, that makes explaining what happened a lot easier now, since Stern probably saw all of the damage Jeremie did in the dorms.

“...Yeah, I guess. I don’t know, I was too busy panicking about everything that happened!”

Stern’s eyes were now wider than baseballs, it being obvious that he was having a REALLY hard time keeping his composure together with all that Jeremie was saying.

Jeremie continued his rambling with, “A-Anyway, then, after that, I got overwhelmed by this weird feeling! L-Like I knew Milly and Tamiya were going to find me sticking on the ceiling BEFORE I even knew the girls were still in the building!”

Stern’s face lit up with realization when Jeremie said the last bit.

“So that’s how you knew Jim was coming…What does it feel like?”

Jeremie paused his pacing and pressed his fingers together as Stern took a seat on his bed, a touch of pink coming over his cheeks as he tried to gather his words into a decent explanation.

“Kind of like…time had slowed down for me. Like every neuron in my body was on high alert, and my skin was covered in goosebumps, screaming at me to do something or something else would happen. It’s…weird…”

Stern simply nodded and inquisitively pressed his fingers to his chin, trying to make Jeremie’s explanation make sense to him.

“Okay…so, kind of like you could sense danger before it happens? Kind of like a sonar or seeing the future…”

Seeing the future, huh…That was a good analogy, though, at the mention of the ‘sensing danger’ part, Jeremie had to bring up a counterpoint.

“It wasn’t just about danger, though. It also activated when you were at my door, a-and before my computer turned on with this strange logo-”

“Wait a minute!”

Stern suddenly interjected, waving his hands around in a gesture that told Jeremie to stop speaking.

“First off…you were in here when I came in?! How did I not see you!”

Jeremie had a quick, although slightly shaky, answer for that.

“I-I was sticking to the wall! I was trying to avoid my robots ‘cause electricity was just FLYING everywhere!”

Stern’s mouth briefly went open, his eyebrows furrowed, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, but he quickly shook away whatever emotion was stirring and moved on, his eyebrow-raising and him scratching the back of his head.

“Secondly, a weird logo?”

Jeremie swallowed a lump down his throat, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple as he contemplated telling Stern about Lyoko.

He deserved to know, especially since he’s been completely receptive to Jeremie’s secrets ever since he nearly left Jeremie’s room. But at the same time, Lyoko wasn’t imperative right now. Stern, and by some extension, Jeremie, needed to take some steps before it became important to talk about Lyoko.

Besides, Lyoko…was a hard subject to explain. Jeremie would need some extra trust from Stern before he gave a complete rundown. But he probably could explain the eye, at least.

“It was this…weird eye symbol, I guess. I…I recognized it, but I have no idea why it appeared. In fact, it appeared around the same time the sensation told me that my robots were going to kill me.”

Stern nodded, the answer seemingly satisfying the young man. It was clear that Stern was still completely lost, but he was slowly getting what Jeremie was going through piecemeal.

“Alright…So, anything else happen that I should know?”

Jeremie, after clearing his throat, moved over and sat next to Stern on his right. He felt a little more comfortable and safe like this, and he needed to be completely earnest with him for this next one.

“So…y’know that door?”

Stern’s eyes went wide and his mouth went agape for a brief second before closing again and trying to regain his composure.

“You did that?!”

“I DIDN’T MEAN TO!” Jeremie shouted apologetically, his hand gripping at his hair and frustrated and scared tears beginning to form in his eyes, “My head was still spinning from the fact that I basically just crawled across the ceiling like a spider and I didn’t notice I had gained super strength until AFTER I ripped the door off! I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON AND I-”

Jeremie then collapsed on his bed, curling into the fetal position and shedding a few tears as his exacerbation and fear reached its limits. He wanted to scream and hide under his sheets now, to crawl away into his bed and never come back.

“...I’m scared. I don’t know what’s happening to me, a-and I think it’s that stupid spider’s fault…”

Jeremie then closed his eyes and cried some more, the past hour now hitting his emotions full force. He could feel his emotional walls crumbling, the barriers that Jeremie so desperately relied on to keep himself safe just…gone.

He felt vulnerable.

“...I’m not human anymore. I’m some spider-freak now…”

Silence reigned for a few seconds, Jeremie sobbing silently and unaware of the world around him. His thoughts have been rolling in this debate for the past hour, oscillating constantly between one side and the other, but he finally said it:

He wasn’t human anymore.

He wasn’t a normal kid anymore.

And it was all because of that spider that the thing behind the eye symbol made.

He was a freak. A monster. Some inhuman creation that should be stored in a science lab to be studied. Maybe he should run out of here while he still could, and run away into the wilderness, where all freaks like him belonged…

“Belpois, you’re not a freak…”

!

Jeremie uncurled slightly as Stern’s voice echoed into his ears, looking up to see his face and connecting with his eyes.

Stern looked how he normally looked now, stern and calm with very little emotion. However, his eyes gave away what he was truly feeling: sympathy and the urge to help, softly looking at Jeremie as if he understood Jeremie’s pain, deep down.

“You’re many things, Belpois…but you’re not a freak. Sure, you can suddenly stick walls, rip off doors, and shoot…whatever came out of your hands now, but you’re still Jeremie Belpois.”

Stern then placed his hand on Jeremie’s shoulder, turning his head down to stare intently into Jeremie’s eyes, pink with on-and-off crying and soft with emotion. For the first time in the entire evening, Jeremie felt…safe.

“You’re just different now…Sure, different can be scary, especially if you don’t understand it, but at the same time…different can be really cool. Different can be fun. Sure, you may not be technically human anymore, but even so, isn’t it kinda cool that you’ve got superpowers now, Belpois?”

…

Jeremie looked down at his hands for a brief second, staring at the blotches on his wrists where webs spun out with a single press. Now that he thought about it…yeah…it was kind of cool. Sure, sticking to walls and the webs were really weird, but his strength? His reflexes? The fact that he could see without his glasses?

It felt like a miracle. Even if Jeremie didn’t feel completely confident in the new status of his humanity, he felt a little bit more at ease.

“And even if you are different now, you’re still Jeremie. You’re still the computer geek who has helped me with every problem I’ve had with those cruddy IBM PCs down in the computer lab. You’re still the nerd who takes home robot competition trophies every year. And you’re still my dorm neighbor.”

Stern then patted his back as Jeremie sat back up on the bed, a soft smile curling on the taller boy’s face.

“A weird spider bite isn’t going to change that, no matter what anyone else says.”

Jeremie felt…comforted, by what Stern said. Despite the last hour being filled with such mystery, existential crises, and questions about Jeremie’s new status as a human being, he felt…somewhat at peace now.

At the end of the day, a weird spider bite isn’t going to change who he was fundamentally. He was still Jeremie Belpois, Kadic Academy 7th Grade student. The boy who was so smart that he was able to skip a grade. The genius who was able to understand a supercomputer he found two weeks ago all on his own. The kid who won every robot competition and brought his schools so many trophies that he had lost count at this point.

And, for the first time in forever, the boy who was able to befriend Ulrich Stern, the impenetrable wallflower of Kadic Academy.

“...Thanks, Stern. I guess I was really out of my mind, huh?”

Stern chuckled and placed his hand right back at his side, comforted by Jeremie’s smile.

“Hehe, no sweat, Belpois. We’ll figure this out together. And by the way, call me Ulrich.”

Stern- no, Ulrich then reached out his arm toward Jeremie, his hand curled into a fist-bumping position.

For the first time in forever…Jeremie had finally made a friend.

And all it took was some weird spider bite to make it happen.

“Yeah…call me Jeremie.”

And then, the fists connected, a friendship forged by weird circumstances and superpowers then and there like a finely crafted sword. A sword built on trust and a spider bite.