When Daisy came to, she was in a strange room with windows on all the sides. Something metal clutched tightly around her throat. "H-hello?" she whimpered, seeing a shadowy figure standing before her. "P-please, let me out. I'm cold and sore and hungry..."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, my dear..." the figure said, stepping into the light. An enormous praying mantis stood before her, his eyes coldly boring into her. "You have so much potential in those little wings of yours. I must say, whoever fixed one of them up like that has excellent craftsmanship." The mantis stooped to one knee. "My apologies for the, uh...questionable transportation methods. My name is Mist, but you may call me General Mist if you choose to be formal."
Daisy trembled, her heart racing in her chest. "What do you w-want from me?" she asked shakily. Mist smiled, sending chills through her body. Fang was intimidating before she had truly gotten to know him, but it paled in comparison to Mist. Daisy could read the spider's emotions very well; not so with the mantis. Something about how polite and soft-spoken he was deeply unsettled Daisy. He had an untrustworthy air about him.
"Why, it's quite simple!" Mist said. "All I want from you is what mother nature gave all butterflies: your gift of flight. You may have noticed by now that you're in a large tank, correct? It's called the Wind Machine, and I need it for the eradication of that man village. All you have to do is beat those little wings of yours, and that will fuel my machine! No harm will come to you as long as you do what I say."
Despite her fear, Daisy managed to bleat out, "T-that's horrible! What have the humans ever done to you? I won't do it!"
Mist's smile faded. "Yes," he murmured. "I thought you might say something like that. Willow! Front and center, please!"
The katydid stepped up, holding a small remote with a button on it. Mist turned back to Daisy. "Should you fail to comply to my demands, I've instructed my scientist to administer a zap each time you refuse to fly. It won't end up killing you, but it will definitely hurt, of that I can assure you. And the more you slow down or continue to refuse, the higher he'll crank up the voltage. Is all of this clear?"
Daisy froze, the horror of her situation piecing itself together in her mind. Where was Dot and Sage? Could they find her before this madman destroyed everything? And Fang...she had never wanted the spider so much as she did now. Would he even know what was happening? How could he save her?
Terrified, Daisy said, "I...I'll try my best. I've only started learning to fly again this morning. I'll need to warm up, first."
Mist only smiled again as he strolled away. "Well then I suggest you start warming up quickly, my dear. Willow, go up to your booth and get the machine started."
"Yes, sir..." the katydid replied, shooting Daisy a malicious look.
*************
Dot and Sage, thank goodness, managed to climb up into the oak tree without any of the hundreds of wasps noticing them. They were hiding behind a few leaves and staring at the tree's opening, wondering how they were going to get in.
"There's simply too many of them," Dot quivered. "Oh my gosh...Sage, what should we do?"
The grasshopper gave her an astonished look. "I don't know! Why are you asking me? You're usually the one who comes up with plans!"
Dot looked around, worry furrowing on her brow. "Up there," she said. The ladybug was pointing at a smaller hole in one of the oak's branches. "I have no idea where it leads, but we need to get Daisy. And quickly. There's no telling what they're doing to her right now, and she's depending on us." Sage nodded and said, "You're right. Let's go get her!"
Neither of them, nor the wasps, noticed the wolf spider that had crept up to the trunk of the tree. Fang glared up at the wasps and started crawling upwards toward the entrance of the oak. A few wasps did notice then, hovering in midair. "Hey!" they yelled angrily. "You're not supposed to be here! Get lost!" They started to dive toward Fang.
Pupils narrowing to slits, Fang snatched them out of the air and knocked their heads together. A third wasp landed in front of him, but he jumped on top of it, sinking his teeth into its throat. The wasp's screams of surprise and agony alerted the rest of the swarm. They all began to rally around the spider, gradually descending upon him like vultures, their buzz now a mad roar.
Fang stomped on another wasp, grabbed more out of the air and tore them apart. With his other sets of legs he started kicking several of them down the tree. They kept coming though: a bigger swarm started to surround him. Fang kept tearing and biting and stomping and kicking his way to the entrance. Once there he ran. He could smell Daisy's scent here.
A red wasp jumped on him. Fang ripped it off of his back before he could be stung and crushed him. He threw the squealing wasp at four more wasps that were coming for him, sending them flying back into the bark. Clutching another wasp by the throat, Fang let out a furious snarl at the others, the sound reverberating through the oak. The wasps all seemed to lose their nerve, then. Many of them stepped back, unsure of what to make of this creepy intruder.
It is no great mystery that wasps and spiders are sworn enemies by nature. Both creatures will kill each other any chance they can get, and they often feed each other to their own offspring. But a spider purposely invading a wasp's nest, outnumbered by hundreds of wasps who could easily kill him with enough stings, is quite unheard of. But what these wasps could never understand was that Fang's predatory instincts weren't in his control anymore.
If they were, they'd tell the spider to stay as far away from this place as possible. But it wasn't enough for Fang to kill a few wasps. No. They took Daisy from him. Daisy, who was an innocent butterfly and something that a wasp normally wouldn't even care about. The whole idea bothered him, and unfortunately for the wasps, it was enough to make something inside Fang snap.
A few of the more daring wasps attempted to come at the spider again. Fang crushed them under his legs with enough force to pop open their abdomens. He grabbed the last surviving wasp of the group and bit into it, envenomating the screaming insect instantaneously. The red wasps watched in horror as Fang drained their companion dry of its innards. Then with a growl, the spider crawled down a hole and disappeared into the colony's nest.
"Someone needs to tell the general," one wasp spoke up. "This could be a problem."
*************
"Higher!" Mist was yelling at Daisy. "Higher!"
The poor little butterfly was flapping as hard as she could. The machine around her had come to life, and just as Willow said, a wind current had picked up outside the oak tree. It wasn't anything quite significant yet, and it certainly didn't please Mist. The mantis turned to the glass booth above him, where Willow was operating the Wind Machine. "Zap her," Mist huffed.
The katydid pressed the button. Pain shot through Daisy's body, and she fell to the ground crying out. Landing with a hard thud, the butterfly convulsed and screamed as the electricity burned her neck. "That's enough!" Mist commanded, and Willow turned the collar off.
Daisy whimpered, pulling her legs to her chest as tears streamed down her face. Struggling to breath, she looked up at Mist. The mantis glared at her. "Try again!" he barked. "Or I'll tell him to crank it up to 10 if we must!"
"I am trying!" Daisy cried. "Please, please let me rest! Give me some nectar! I'll do better if you do! I promise!"
Mist hit the glass with one claw, seething. "Wrong answer," he growled. "Willow, put it on 10!" Daisy's eyes widened. "No!" she pleaded. "Please, no! Wait!
The collar shocked her again. This time the pain was so bad, Daisy's vision blurred. After it was over, she gasped for oxygen, her body trembling violently. Then she got back on her feet and tried flying once more.
Fang had crawled up behind Willow, watching this go down. Seeing Daisy laying there, hyperventilating and sobbing, made the spider's blood boil. Once the butterfly got in the air, Fang pressed his fangs against Willow's neck. The katydid almost screamed, but a hand clapped over his mouth. "Release her or I'll make you wish you didn't have a nervous system," Fang hissed. "Do it!"
Willow shakily pressed the release button. Daisy's collar fell off in mid-flight, hitting the floor below with a clang. She was too scared to notice, beating her wings as hard as she could. Sweat poured off of her as she made it higher than she ever had before. The wind outside howled.
"Haha, that's it!" Mist laughed. "It's working!"
Outside, something rather unnatural was occurring. Thunderheads gathered above the oak tree, and the land became overcast in a dark shadow. The villagers walked out of their houses, murmuring among themselves and fearfully looking up into the sky. Some said that God had come back. Others whispered that a tempest from the sea had somehow come onto land and that there was a real possibility of a hurricane hitting the mainland. Neither of them thought what Mist had: his "Butterfly Effect" was coming true.
Meanwhile, Sage and Dot had crawled out of the tree branch they had been exploring. It turned out to be a dead end and they were very despondent about it. But once they saw what state the atmosphere above them was in, they cowered. "We're in for a real storm!" Sage yelled above the wind. "A late summer storm at that!"
Dot was in disbelief. "I've lived in Ridpath for 5 years and I've never seen anything like this in my life!" she said. "Something's not right, Sage. We're going in after Daisy. And I don't care who tries to stop us!" Holding her spear, the ladybug charged into the entrance of the oak tree. "Dot, wait!" Sage called, jumping after her.
Mist, pleased with the results he had gotten, turned to the booth. "Alright, Willow. Time for-" He stopped when he saw no one was in the booth. "Willow?" The mantis crawled up to the booth, startled to see blood all over the glass.
Daisy, too weak to fly anymore, glided down to the floor. Shivering, she got to her feet, almost falling over. "Willow!" Mist yelled. "Where are you? Come back here!"
Willow's lifeless husk skid to a stop in front of the Wind Machine. Mist exclaimed, stumbling off of the booth. Daisy's eyes widened, oblivious of the six glimmering eyes that were watching her. The glass shattered and a loud screech was heard as Daisy was seized from behind and had her arms pinned down by an unseen force.
Two pinpricks rested on her throat. She didn't have to try to turn around to see who it was, she just knew: Fang. It shouldn't have been natural for a spider, big or not, to have uttered such a sound, if arachnids could be capable of vocalizing such a horrifying scream. Daisy felt her heart explode as she realized that Fang was digging his fangs into her.
At this moment, the wasps had shown up. They were all talking at once and arguing among themselves. Upon seeing Fang, they gasped. "General Mist! Look out! He's mad!"
Mist was staring at Fang, eyes bulging in a mixture of anger and fear. He would have already killed the spider if it weren't for the fact that Daisy was in front of him. "You come close and I'll drain the life out of her!" Fang shouted, pupils still narrowed to slits.
The wasps started to advance, but Mist waved one claw at them. "Stand down! In the name of everything holy, stand down!"
Daisy started crying again. "F-Fang, you're scaring me..." she choked. The spider growled, "Be quiet." He maneuvered them over to the exit of the room. Mist and the wasps watched their every move. Once Fang made it to the entrance, he slowly backed out, not taking his eyes off of the wasps. They inched forward ever so slightly, waiting for the command to attack.
Walking down the tree, Fang kept Daisy in front of him until they made it into the grass. Softly panting, he released her. His pupils returned to a normal state. "Daisy? Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" he asked.
The butterfly whimpered, hugging him. "Don't kill me, Fang. Please don't kill me..."
Fang cast a sorrowful look at her. "Oh, Daisy...I'm so sorry for scaring you." He hugged her back. "I didn't know what else to do. I might have a big appetite, but I'm not stupid. You want to know why I never ate you? Because of your wings. Your bright colors tell me you're poisonous, so eating you would be a death sentence for me."
Daisy looked up at him. He gently smiled at her. "Theres another reason, too. But that must wait for now. We have to get out of here before the wasps come back." Fang lifted her into his arms. "Hang on tight, ok?"
The spider took off running as fast as he could. Dot and Sage saw his fleeing form and followed close behind. Mist, who was watching from above, turned to his troops. "Kill him. I want the butterfly back alive!"