Caught in the Spyder's Web

[winner3]

Following recent events that saw Aurora Estrella of the SWAT Cats forced into a fight at her favorite cafe by Arachne W. Spyder, we join the tag team champions in the ring for a promo segment at a LAW show.

The cameras revolve around all three SWAT Cats, currently situated in the ring. Aurora stands in the center of the ring, arms crossed, foot tapping. She seemed uncharacteristically peeved - frazzled, even. Kat scratched the back of her head for a moment. The Super Kitty looked on with concern at her stablemates. With her free hand, she held a live microphone. Tracy leaned onto the top rope. Her forearms were stacked on top of each other. She bites her face in them and taps her back foot repeatedly. Suffice it to say that the World Tag Team Champions were not happy.

The crowd murmured with concern and surprise. Highlights just finished playing on the big screen above the entrance ramp in the arena. Highlights of the clips of Arachne taking it to Aurora and making off with the golden belts that had become so familiar with The SWAT Cats. The same belts that so many people the world over had come to associate with all three of them. The commentators at ringside remarked on how seeing The Cats without those championships felt odd.

Katherine slowly brought her mic up to her face to speak. But as she opened her mouth, Tracy pushed back on the ropes and extended her hand to The Super Kitty, gesturing to ask for the microphone. Kat obliged, of course.

"Phew...." Tracy breathed a heavy sigh.

"Okay, I told myself that I wasn't gonna come out here and just blow up." She began. It was written all over The Circus Cat's face just how invested she was in those championships and in seeking justice.

"No, no." Aurora cut in. The lightweight luchadora's voice was audible on Tracy's mic.

"If there was ever a time to get uppity and indignant, I think it's now...."

"Yeah, nah." Hart balled her fist and chimed in.

"I'm all for keeping the "professional" in "professional wrestler". But if Spider-Girl wants some, she can get some!" The crowd rallied behind the tag champs!

"YOU HEAR US?! GET YOUR EIGHT-LEGGED, KLEPTO GREMLIN BEHIND OUT HERE, ARACHNE! AND LET'S SETTLE THIS RIGHT NOW!" Tracy's voice boomed as yelled and called Arachne out to the ring! It was no secret that it had always been Tracy's dream to live out this title reign alongside her best friends and sisters-in-arms. Those belts represented not just how far the bond between the cat trio could take them, but the legacy they'd leave on LAW and wrestling as a whole! And from their facial expressions and the way that they carried themselves, it was clear that all three women in the ring were bent on writing the wrong that was Arachne nabbing the championship belts from their rightful holders! From the team that LAW and LAW fans had come to know and love as the cornerstone of the company!

[dddybee]

Arachne's Causal Theme

Heels commonly caused quite a lot of trouble in and outside of LAW. Jumping people, needlessly brutalizing opponents, jumping people, cheating, jumping people, taking fans hostage, jumping people, attacking staff members, jumping people, being a jerk in general, and of course: jumping people. Lots of jumping people. However, a heel literally stealing championship belts from a rightful champion had been completed unpreceded! However, that's exactly what happened after Arachne forced Aurora to fight her in a cafe. With a combination of her wrestling talent as well as some mischievous tricks (courtesy of her Thorax Backpack), Arachne had beat Aurora down, smothered her out, and made off with her tag belts!

Other than simply antagonizing the SWAT Cats, Arachne's specific reasons for stealing their belts were currently...ambiguous. All anyone knew is that the villainess had declared she'd be back, implying this conflict was far from over! It had been about a week since Arachne had stolen the belts. And it seemed the SWAT Cats weren't too keen on sitting around and just waiting for the spider to get back to them whenever. Hence this very promo segment! Coincidently, Arachne was finally ready to touch base again. But it wasn't in the way the Cats had demanded, or in a way that anyone expected!

"HehHehHehHehHehHehHeh..." A mischievous chuckle emanated from the various loudspeakers through LAW Arena.

"Mwahahahahahahahahahaha...!" The laugher grew louder, and the voice behind it became increasingly clear!

"AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" The maniacal cackling resounded even louder, echoing throughout LAW Arena! "We interrupt this program of the SWAT Cats whining like lil' babies to bring you some breaking news! LAW's security system has been compromised! All staff members have been locked out of the control room, leaving one person to take over the whole joint! Who would do such a dastardly thing, you may ask?"

One by one, the numerous monitor screens would change to an image depicting the cackling face of the very culprit that had stolen the SWAT Cats' championship belts! "ARACHNE WIDOW SPYDER: VILLAINESS...OF THE SPIDERWEEEEEEEEB!"

Once she was finally done laughing, Arachne would look down at the SWAT Cats, from the largest monitor screen turned towards the ring. "Oh heeeeeeeeey Aurora! Fancy seeing you here." Arachne chuckled, addressing Aurora specifically. "Oh but Arachne's heard the news! Apparently SOMEONE stole your team's precious tag belts. Woooooow. That's craaaaaazyyyyy. Arachne snickered, opting to screw with the SWAT Cats by playing dumb for now. "But anyhow, what did you plebians wanna see ME for? Arachne can't IMAGINE why."

Arachne's Appearance

[winner3]

The cacophony of evil villainess laughter filling the stadium incessantly was enough to strike fear and concern into the hearts of fans all over! It grew louder and louder, into a crescendo of madness that perfectly personified Arachne's brand of evil! And while many fans and even the staff panicked, each of The SWAT Cats remained vigilant (yet mildly annoyed) in their own way!

"Ohhhh that's gonna get old real quick!" Tracy covered her ears with both hands and looked at her tag partners. Their voices were still audible on their mics!

"Yeah....is she gonna....I dunno, maybe stop doing that....anytime soon?" Kat would respond while grimacing.

"Sadly, no. I've come to accept that it's usually better to let her get it all out. I fear she'll become insatiable if she doesn't." Estrella continued to cross her arms in irritation. Yet she didn't interrupt. As manic as Arachne was right now, The SWAT Cats did have to acknowledge that the evil arachnid did seem to be holding all the cards right now. And boy was Spyder all too happy to flex them!

Like a 90's computer virus, the villainess's face flashed across every available monitor on the arena! Like many villainous heels in the company, Arachne had bullied LAW's staff! But Miss Spyder did so with grand designs in mind! The evil Arachne fought off, not just LAW's security staff, but their production crew as well! And she was already using her technical expertise and her megalomania to wreak havoc all over this arena!

Once the crazed laughter finally petered out, once she finally came down from the high of effectively hijacking this LAW show, Arachne introduced herself, proper! And not a single soul in the arena was happy to welcome Arachne or this crazy turn of events!

"Fancy, indeed." Aurora quipped back poignantly with her eyes closed in frustration.

After hearing Arachne out and seeing that she decided to open this thing up by playing coy, The SWAT Cats were quick to try and nip that in the bud!

"Ohhhhh lemme at her!" Tracy doubled up her fists and began shadowboxing! But a hand on the shoulder from Kat quickly got her to calm down.

"Nah, not just yet. We've gotta go through the proper motions first." Kat cut in.

"Proper motions?" Aurora asked.

"Yep yep yep! 'Rora!"

"Yes, Kat?"

"Do us a favor and list off our little spider friend's crimes for her."

"Ohhh this'll be good!" Tracy approached Aurora excitedly.

"Let's see...." Aurora began to count on her fingers.

"We've got: 1) stalking and assaulting yours truly"

"You're giving Spiders everywhere a bad rap!" Tracy pointed at Arachne's face on the monitor. Kat pretended to be holding a pen. The Super Kitty gestured, as if writing notes on Arachne's offenses on her palm. The crowd cheered as The Cats revved up the antics!

"2) Credit card theft" Aurora continued.

"Why does a SPIDER need a credit card?!"

"Tsk tsk tsk"

"3) Disorderly conduct"

"All EIGHT of those legs are agents of chaos just like her!"

"4) Trespassing in the LAW Production control room. With likely many counts of assault on the professionals in and around the area to get access."

"Real talk, insurance premiums as a LAW Security Staff person have to be through to the roof. I really feel for those guys. If no one else will stand up for them I will!" Kat shook her fist. Tracy rallied behind her and did the same!

"Pick on someone in your same line of work, Arachne!"

"5) Shall we add breaking and entering to the list? I know that door was locked when you found it, Arachne." Estrella squinted and pointed at the biggest monitor.

"Haven't any of these crazy LAW girls heard of KNOCKING?!"

"Ohhhh, and let's not forget the one at the top of the list!"

"The theft of what does not rightfully belong to you. The LAW World Tag Team Championship Titles!" Aurora placed her hands on her hips and stood authoritatively! As if ready to enact justice!"

"Congratulations, Arachne!" Kat shouted.

"In light of your litany of crimes, you've now been downgraded! From gremlin! To GOBLIN!" Hart pointed. The crowd reacted with roars of support! Tracy and Aurora gestured to the fans in attendance to really milk their reaction! Kat gave them all a chance to voice their opinions and waited for them to calm down.

"Look, Arachne. I know how this goes. I've been doing this a long time. Tracy and Aurora have been doing this a long time. This ain't the first time someone's stolen a title belt from me."

"You're gonna make us jump through hoops. You're probably gonna send us on some wild goose chase to get our belts back. Whatever it is, bring it on!"

"But know one thing! Whether we get those belts back tonight or next week or whenever. Justice will be swift! What goes around will come around! You'll regret going out of your way to mess with The SWAT Cats! And most of all, you'll regret messing with 'Rora!"

"Yeah! Tell her what she's got coming to her, 'Rora!" Tracy cut in amidst the cheers and the hype. Though she didn't mean to, The Circus Cat put her partner on the spot!

"Oh! Um!" Aurora perked up! She was clearly caught off guard.

"Mmmmm...." The Galaxy Cat began to think. The crowd was abuzz with expectation about the kind of comeuppance Aurora had in mind for Arachne!

"A VERY stern and VERY disciplinary......"

"VERY public.....Spanking....!!!" A stunned silence hung in the air for a moment.

"You hear that! Aurora's gonna beat Arachne's butt! Let's go!" Tracy would roar, and the fans would roar along with her! For among the many ways The Cats planned to bring Arachne to justice a spanking was now made to be one of them!!!

[dddybee]

Background Music

Arachne's crazed laughter and revelation that she had taken over LAW's control room sent everyone except the courageous SWAT Cats into a frenzied panic! Perhaps Arachne had expected the Cats to react with a bit more shock, but the mischievous spider could certainly settle for making them annoyed! In fact, Arachne opted to annoy them even more by sarcastically acting as if she wasn't the person responsible for stealing their tag belts, claiming to have merely heard about it. To Arachne's mild disappointment, the three indignant champions didn't entertain this notion for a second. In fact, they went on to list all the transgressions the villainess was guilty of committing!

"Oh sweet!" Arachne perked up, when Kat first asked Aurora to list the bug girl's crimes. Arachne was shamelessly just as excited to hear about all her wrongdoings as Tracy and the roaring audience were. Like a true villainess, Ms. Spyder took pride in her work! Arachne's devilish grin only widened, as the SWAT Cats continued to list out more and more of her misdeeds. "Haha! Excellent! Thank you! You're all too kind!" Arachne voiced in a mocking tone to the Cats and to the booing and jeering fans, thriving off of their negative energy! It was clear that any attempt to legitimately shame Arachne here bore no fruit. "Looks like Arachne's built up quite an impressive rap sheet for herself! And Arachne IS picking on people in her same line of work... YOU three boneheads! Mwahahahahahaaaaaaa!"

Arachne giggled, scoffed and rolled two of her eight eyes at the SWAT Cats' threats to bring her to justice, despite Tracy rewording Aurora's threat to sound more threatening. But Kat in particular had said something else that wiped the smug, wicked grin off of her masked mug. "Wait... Someone has stolen a title belt from you before...?" Arachne frowned and asked Kat this in a tone that indicated she was bothered the buff blonde had this experience already. The villainess took pride in her originality and creativity! But Kat going on to correctly guess part of her evil plan irritated her even more. "And no spoilers! HOW DID YOU KNOW ARACHNE WAS GONNA-...?" Arachne leaned back into her chair and grumbled. "Ughhh! I was gonna screw around a bit more to build up to the glorious evil plan reveal. But since Super Pussy over here SPOILED part of that already, guess we'll get down to business sooner..."

Arachne quickly snapped back to her usual cartoonishly mischievous disposition. She dramatically raised both her hands up, before lowering them out of the T.V monitor's frame. And when she raised them back into view, she'd be clutching both of the SWAT Cats' tag belts in either of her hands! "Awwwww. Are THESE what ya'll are bellyaching about?" Arachne taunted, dangling and shaking the belts on the screen. "Ya know, they don't make very good butt cushions. Last week, Aurora's face served as a much better one for me. HehHehHeh!" After implying that she had been sitting on the belts since the start of this program, Arachne """accidently""" yeeted the belts behind her! "WHOOPS. They slipped..." While the belts were no longer in frame, the audio would pick up on the sound of them hitting the floor. Arachne dusted off her hands in satisfaction towards her act of disrespect.

"Anyway, Arachne will be sending you chumps on a wild...DUCK-chase. (Totally different from a goosechase and whatnot.) LAW's control room is guarded by three walls. Each of the walls needs to be opened by a specific, corresponding, color-coded access card. Arachne has hidden exactly one access card of each type somewhere in this here joint. You'll have to find all three to unlock the walls to get to me and your precious belts. Don't bother asking any staff members for access cards, because the rest of them are here with me!" To prove this, Arachne unzipped her Thorax Backpack and hung it open in front of the screen, allowing a whole bunch of stolen access cards to fall out! "And yes. Arachne may have done some sneaking, swiping, and assaulting to get all these cards. But I'm sure everyone's fiiiiiiiine... Except for Patterson. But, nobody cares about Patterson." Arachne snickered in way that made it hard to discern whether this particular part was a joke or not, before putting her bag back on and continuing.

"Obviously, while this will be your attempted objective, having all three of you succeed and corner me in this room doesn't benefit me... Ha.Ha.Ha." Arachne let out a slightly nervous chuckle at the thought, indicating the Cats' threats actually hadn't completely gone over her head, before quickly continuing. "So there's more to it than that. I've got my own top secret villainous objectives here. But there will be absolutely NO SPOILERS. You'll see what kind of terror I have in store for you soon enough. Oh, and if you try anything funny or fail to obey my commands, I'll just bail outta here with your precious belts in tow! In which case, you'll NEVER EVER see them again! Bwahahahahaaaaaa...!"

"But because I'm soooooooo benevolent, Arachne is willing to give you fools hints about where each access card is. In the form of three riddles! One for each access card!" Arachne explained, before clicking a button and flipping a switch on the control panel. These actions dimmed the lights of LAW Arena, before shining a literal spotlight down on Aurora! "I think the Galaxy Pussy's utter failure to stop me before proves otherwise, but apparently you half-wit LAW fans think she's really smart or something! If that somehow was the case, I suppose answering three mind-bending, thought-provoking, intelligence-requiring riddles would be right up Aurora ESTRELLA's alley... And of course, we do have Katherine HART... And Tracy CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN-...... just go home..."

"PSSSSH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Arachne laughed so hard that she fell out of her seat. The monitor screen would show two of the spider's eight legs kicking up in the air, as the mischievous heel genuinely laughed her butt off! "TR-TR-TRACY C-C-CAN...JUST GO HOME...!" Arachne wheezed, as she repeated the punchline of her joke. "GET IT...?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT'S CLEVER...! UNLIKE TRACY...! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...!" With the explanation Arachne provided, it looked like part two of her evil plan was ready to really get going, whenever the Villainess of the Spiderweb finished laughing of course...

[winner3]

Arachne wore each offense on her rap sheet like a badge of honor! The chaotic cretin's pride in her entropy drew the ire of the fans who rallied to Aurora's and The SWAT Cat's cause here. But somehow the Arachnid thrived on this! But the villainess wouldn't get to ride this high for very long! Each of The SWAT Cats had a penchant for getting under the skin of the more villainous side of wrestlers at LAW. Kat's experience in similar situations and her foresight to know that there would be more to Arachne's grand master plan struck a nerve! But only for a moment!

"Oh, what is it now?!" Tracy scoffed when Arachne grabbed hold of the TV monitor to fiddle with it! It only took a moment for Spyder to reveal the championship belts in question!

By showing off the prizes that she held hostage, Arachne instantly channeled her inner villainess once more! The crowd began to boo the evil arachnid as she flaunted the belts and taunted the tag team champions before specifically calling out The Galaxy Cat!

"Ugh!" Aurora placed her hands on her hips and tapped her foot to show she was peeved!

"HEY! DON'T THRO-" Canon interjected, but this did nothing to stop Arachne from unceremoniously, haphazardly yeeting the belts into next week!

Tracy would grab hold of her own hair for a moment. The redhead froze for a second before responding to Arachne's sarcastic remark about the belt slipping.

"I'mma kill her. I got to now."

The chorus of boos that followed drowned out any chance to get in more words before Arachne could go on to explain her dastardly plan! And what a plan it was!

"I care about Patterson. His birthday was last week!" Kat has been listening intently up until that point, but the comment about backstage worker Patterson made her blurt that out inadvertently.

Kat and Aurora promptly returned to focusing on the plan Arachne was outlining. Tracy gestured with her hand to mime all of Arachne's yapping. The Circus Cat was clearly disinterested!

At first, the task of deciphering riddles and collecting keys seemed daunting to the fans and to the staff! (Not to mention the task of sorting out all the misdeeds against LAW Staff that Management will surely fine/punish Arachne for later) But the cat luchadora trio remained diligent in the way they approached the situation posed to them by Arachne Spyder!

"Yeah yeah yeah, no more spoilers. Check." Kat pretended to scribble into her palm, muttering just softly enough to be audible as Arachne continued her grand designs.

"You'll slip out the back and bail if you don't like how we do things. Check." Kat gave a thumbs up just in time for Arachne to flip the switch that got the spotlights to converge on Aurora Estrella!

"Ooooh, massive girl crush on Aurora. Double check." Katherine smirked.

"You really think so?" Aurora whispered and questioned. But this aside was interrupted by Arachne's incessant laughter as her own "clever" joke.

A deadpan atmosphere washed over the arena. Arachne laughed for several seconds without a single other sound in the stadium! When Arachne's cackling finally subsided, a long, stony silence followed.

"I hope you're proud of yourself for that one, Arachne." Aurora finally broke the silence.

"That's gotta be the corniest line anyone's ever cracked during a promo! Phew! Just impressively bad! What!? Was the first test to see whether or not we could last through that awful joke?!" Hart began to laugh all the way from her gut.

"W-wait Trace!" Kat followed up, reaching towards The Circus Cat as Tracy reached for the ropes!

"Tracy, it was bad, I know, but-" Aurora followed.

"No, it was bad but it was also the last straw! I'm really gonna go back there and mangle her!" Tracy raised an eyebrow. She was dead serious!

"But how will you make it past the doors?!" Aurora cried.

"The production guys have to have tools around here right? Heck, I'll just use a sledgehammer. It's just 3 doors right? 3 good whacks oughta do it. And then...!" Tracy pantomimed by pretending to bring her hands over Arachne's neck to wring it for all it was worth!

Katherine and Aurora were quick to hug Tracy from both sides and herd her back to the spotlight that Arachne had so generously set up for Aurora in the ring. Kat soothed Tracy by patting her on the head and hugging her close.

"Okay, we've got the team together. We've got the fans behind us!" Aurora raised a fist in the air cutely. The fans rallied with The Galaxy Cat in kind!

"And together, we can overcome anything! Even the single greatest evil of them all! The Atrocious Arachne's lackluster attempts at standup comedy!" Aurora would say with the very same inflection that Arachne had used earlier during the explanation of her plan!

"Now, now Arachne." Aurora would say, fully confident that her last quip would have drawn some ire from the spider.

"Just like last time, I'm not actually looking for a fight. No one has to fly off the handle here. You wanted to pose the challenge of riddles to me and I want to accept." Estrella finished with a determined smile.

"So...!"

"Let's hear the first one! Or would you rather Tracy go back to looking for that sledgehammer?"

"I'll do it! Don't test me!" Canon roared!

[dddybee]

Arachne delighted in irritating each of the SWAT Cats, flexing the leverage she had and the power she wielded from LAW's backstage Control Room! The boos she got from the crowd and the ire she drew from Tracy especially only served to encourage her villainous antics! But what did catch Arachne off guard was Kat jumping to the conclusion that the Villainess of the Spiderweb must have a huge crush on Aurora Estrella! It was an admittedly reasonable inference, given how fixated with Aurora the spider had proven to be at this point.

"Gah! It's not like th-!" Arachne started, before opting to ignore the accusation and quickly move on. Ms. Spyder happened to be a straight girl. But even if it wasn't explicitly romantic interest, Arachne's borderline obsessive behavior towards Aurora had to have taken root somewhere. And the cunning bug girl knew entertaining Kat's suggestion would only lead to further questions that she did NOT feel like answering. Instead, Arachne swiftly diverted everyone's attention to the following big joke she made at poor Tracy Canon's expense, cleverly poking fun at the Circus Cat's last name!

But after laughing her ahh off, Arachne frowned in mild disappointment that no one in LAW Arena seemed to find her joke very humorous. The silly lightweight was expecting to get the odd chuckle outta a couple of audience members at least! She was indeed proud of her joke! And she glared at Katherine for laughing at how corny she thought it was! "Hmmph! You're clearly laughing in response to Arachne's comedic genius, but have to cover that up for Tracy's sake." Arachne grumbled. It wasn't easy to annoy the villainous spider. Annoying people was what she did best! Even so, by this point, the Super Kitty in particular actually seemed to be getting under Arachne's thick skin. Aurora's nerdiness and Tracy's temper made them more fun to bully and provoke respectively. But thankfully, the latter's fury did not disappoint!

"Wow! Didn't think I'd hurt your feelings THAT badly. Can't take a joke, Canon you? HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!" Arachne giggled childishly, even after Tracy threatened to come strangle her. Tracy's tag partners comforted her, before Aurora opted to speak up. Arachne narrowed two of her eight eyes at Aurora, after the Galaxy Cat took a jab at her. But notably, despite expressing some anger, the spider opted not to grumble at Aurora the same way she grumbled at Kat. But she made sure to poke fun at Tracy, after the Circus Cat threatened her once again. "Yeeshhh. Tracy is a real loose...Canon. Hahahahahaha...! M-More last name humor..." Arachne chuckled, though she thankfully didn't laugh as long as last time. She was too intrigued by Aurora accepting her challenge!

Background Music

"HA! Better prep that tiny brain of yours for riddle number one! Things are gonna get real crazy real soon! Because as long as Arachne's in control here, there is NO LAW...!" Arachne quipped ominously, before suddenly breaking out into a song! Arachne spun around wildly in the spinny chair she was seated on, as she put her singing skills on full display!

"There is no LAW!"~
"And there is no order!"~
"Cause I've crossed the line!"~
"I've ignored the border!"~

"All the rules to ash!"~
"Stipulations to flame!"~
"LAW's been turned all topsy-turvy!"~
"And Arachne's to blame!"~

"You've got no chance to get your belts back!"~
"Lest you head to the place where nobody slacks!"~
"You're stumped here without a doubt!"
"Best believe nothing will work out!"~

"AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!"

And just like that, the first riddle was laid out in a catchy villain song! The keys to solving this riddle were in the tenth and twelfth lines of said song, not including the evil laughter at the end. If the SWAT Cats figured it out, it would lead them to LAW's backstage gymnasium! However, they would find that any entrances to the gym were blocked with locked doors! And on the locked door of the gym's main entrance, was a tapped-on picture of Katherine Hart for some reason! Arachne kept everyone in LAW Arena and watching at home informed of what was going on, by broadcasting everything through the many television screens set up throughout LAW. In fact, Arachne's face soon appeared on a TV screen located right outside of the gym! And the scheming lightweight would look directly at the SWAT Cats through it, waiting for them to prompt her on what to do next!