Web Probe
Web Probes are a small species of Web Creature. Native only to the Web, Web Probes gather information on unknown areas and alert other creatures of threats. Like all web creatures, they are black or gray in color, and have several tentacles used to inspect things. Fairly weak in extended combat, they will usually flee from threats, relying on their great speed and agility to outmaneuver foes.
When the Web gains access to the Net, Web Probes are the first creatures to emerge from a portal. Their sole purpose is to observe and study a system's defensive capabilities, identifying threats and relaying the information to other, more powerful creatures. Normally, Web Probes will continue their investigations at a leisurely pace, but if one is attacked, the rest will flee back to the portal and summon the attack force. Although weak and fragile, they can infect any vehicle they touch, causing the craft to crash. Web Probes can also merge in a "piggyback function" which provides both probes with a tremendous speed boost in order to escape its pursuers.
Several Web Probes were present during the Web War in Mainframe. During their inspection of Mainframe's defenses, one car pilot was startled by a Web Probe and fired on it, deleting the creature. The others scattered and fled to the web portal. The CPUs managed to destroy all but two of the probes, which used the piggyback function to escape. They summoned the attack drones, which quickly attacked the city. During the ensuing fight, several Web Probes inspected the Hardware and alerted the other creatures to the threat it posed to them, causing the attack drones to attack the Hardware. (Web World Wars)