A Sevenfold Sting

It's never an easy thing to lose someone. I may be overly reductive in saying that "We only have people until we don't", but it doesn't make it any less true.
 
I never cared for Roben's attitude towards us. From Day One, we seemed to only disappoint him. Constant flubs and situations where in retrospect we could have taken a different tack only seemed to make him frustrated to have to take the time to check in on our behaviour. Between you and me and the wall, it's part of the reason that I kept acting out.
 
But. Credit where credit is due and I certainly didn't give him enough of it while he was with us. The man was smart. The man was cautious. The man was slow to trust. All things that I can appreciate. Turns out that he did care for us, albeit in a very laissez-faire fashion. Reminds me of the adage: "Never rub a tabaxi's fur the wrong direction." Bear with me, it'll pan out. Every person has their own way of doing things; me mum refers to it as "mis-en-place" when she's cooking. I'm was never sure what fueled Roben's mis-en-place, raison d'être, or mentorship philosophy. He was always just a grumpy employer, and I wish that I had more opportunity to discover what made him tick.
 
That's not in the cards, though. He was robbed of the opportunity to complete his task. By an entity and a tool that seem to only exist within the realm of myth. Or at least, that's how it used to be.
 
If the Spiders didn't exist until last night, it brings up a number of questions, some unanswerable and others all too clear.
Who planted the seeds of their existence in the minds of the populace? - Unknown. Unimportant?
Who is tending the resulting fruit? - Those that benefit the greatest from their existence. Could be a single group, and it could be many. Birchfield is the front runner.
If a single group, what is their ultimate goal? - Unknown. Roben said "rewriting reality", but to what end?
How did they find out about Roben's research on the Nexus? - Unknown, but it certainly gives validity to his caution.
 
Of lesser importance, likely because I'll never find out--
Who branded me?