She jerked awake to find herself trapped in a glass cage. She jumped to her feet, her four spidery appendages tapping against the walls of the cage behind her. The floor beneath her was unfinished concrete, and the walls behind the glass were painted white. She felt herself over; her dark skin was unbroken as far as she could tell. She glanced down at her lower body; the red hourglass birthmark peeked out from under her crop-top as it always had, and her wide hips were just as clean as the rest of her.

A soft tapping behind her caused her to jump. She turned around; a few feet away, a man of around her age was caught in a similar glass cage. He appeared to be Arachnal like her, but he was a scorpion. He was almost a foot taller than she was, with an overtly muscular upper body and broad shoulders. A sandy-brown tail extended from his lower back and curled over his left shoulder, swaying bouncily in the air. He wore a toothy grin and pressed his palms to the glass.

“Ah, good. Now that you’re awake, we can get right to it,” called an effeminate voice from above her. She glanced up. There was a speaker in the ceiling from which the voice came. “I’ll let you out of this room… if you can kill your cellmate.”

She looked back to the man. He waved, still grinning just as strongly.

The glass rose into the ceiling above them, and the man stepped towards her calmly.

“Hey,” he colloquially stated.

She took a step back.

“H…hey?” she replied.

He took another step forward.

“I just want you to know,” he started, rolling his words into the next part of his statement. “This is nothing personal. Just because I enjoy it doesn’t mean I have anything against you as an individual.”

Her eyes widened as she leaned back, her weight falling on her heels. He tucked his arm in and charged her. His shoulder hit her in the gut, knocking her back into the wall with a crack. Her head jerked back and hit the wall and she cried out in pain.

The man sighed. “I didn’t think this would be that quick.” He raised his tail up, poisonous barb ready to strike down on her. She opened her eyes in time to see it and dodge her head to the side. The barb stuck in the wall, giving her the time to use her extra four appendages to push herself off of the wall – and him off of her.

She tumbled past him as he reeled, still stuck to the wall. She slid on her heels and forced herself around to face him. He yanked his tail from the wall and straightened his back.

“That’s much more like it….” The man pulled back, as if to ready a punch, but struck out at her with his tail. She gasped in surprise, her lower appendages reacting in time to grab it and keep it from piercing her. With his tail caught, her upper to appendages reached behind her to her lower back, where they grabbed the silk from her web sack and started pulling it around.

He struck out with the fist he had prepared, making her dodge to the side. His tail struggled against her grip as she rotated out of the way, forcing her to stay close. Moving as quickly as she could, she brought her upper appendages around to wrap her web around his tail, binding it to itself and pulling the barb down and out of easy piercing range.

He reached down and grabbed her appendage in the crook between his palm and index finger. There, his skin was rough and edged, which easily held her thin, scaly leg still. She wouldn’t be able just to pull away. He pulled her in closer and used his off hand to jab her in the stomach again. She keeled over, and he brought his elbow down on her back. She toppled to the floor, her appendage bent backwards in his grip. He laughed, pulling his tail around so he could take the webbing off and finish her off.

She coughed, wiping the blood from her nose. Her vision was hazy. Something clicked inside her: this was the end. If she didn’t do something, she was dead. She kicked her legs up into his groin, making him stumble off of her. She pulled herself to her feet and landed a punch across his jaw. He fell onto his back, and she pounced on him.

Her fangs extended, and she bit into his neck, her venom coursing into his veins. The man writhed against her, trying to free himself, but she kept herself latched on. Slowly, his resistance stopped, and he lay still.

“Impressive, my little bug,” cooed the voice from the ceiling. “Let me get the door for you.”