Pt1
I’m falling.
Let’s get the facts here, this is not abnormal. Aerial stuff is kind of forced to be my thing, and weird stuff happens to me all the time, but the key difference? I’m usually falling by choice. Now is not one of those times.
As harsh cold wind punches my back, my blurry eyes try to grip focus on the giant mass of black above me. It swirls with its tendrils deviating from the mass like small whips. The whole thing pulses like a ripple on water, except more hungry, alive, and menacing.
I just fell out of that,
And I’m still falling.
Breathe, breathe! Okay. Find an area, any area will do- there! Building!
Before I know it I’ve flung my web out into the blustering storm. It shoots straight and catches the gray surface of the skyscraper, pulling me through the chill air. I swing around the building, legs forked out in front of me.
I arch around its side in an upward trajectory until I make a very rough landing on the roof, I roll and bump against the stone bruising my skin. I groan, but hey I’ve had people do a lot worse to me. A quick replay of all the times villains have almost smashed in my skull plays through my mind. The list is not as nearly impressive as Crab’s, but when it comes to her and me, it’s never a competition. She wins.
This storm doesn’t seem natural, obviously, there’s a giant black swarm above us. I’m betting that’s the cause of the gray skies and brutal winds. I can feel the pressure of the air on my suit, the wind is pounding against my head as it whirs into my ears. I’m in survival mode, and I have the usual responsibility, I have to help. I’m in a strange place in a strange situation and I’ve been doing this sort of thing long enough to know that this sort of chaos usually comes from an unusual trouble caused.
Scanning aaaand- okay. That guy definitely looks like a bad guy. The pattern of his form is swirling almost identically to whatever brought me here. Target acquired, time to-
What was that?
Something just swished by me with the speed of a subway train, vibrant colors streaked past me in the same pose I had held just seconds ago.
I-
It’s-
No way.
Boots, spandex, webs, masks.
They look like Crab.
They look like me.
I can see them now, the pounding in my head sharpening into focus. There are several of them. They swing from building to building, gliding with grace and punctuating their targets with the power that Crab used to demonstrate. They’re too far away to notice my little form while I’m lying flat, but I feel so drawn to them.
They’re, they’re all like me.
I can’t breathe for a second.
Where did they come from? Who are they? Where were they when I first tried on the suit? When I was all alone? Questions spawn inside my head so rapidly that they no longer form words, they are just sudden flashes of instinct and emotion. “Where am I?” and “Why am I here?” are now joined by a billion cousins of thought.
I’m going to have to force myself up. I push myself up onto my elbows and drag my aching body toward the end of the building. Dangit why couldn’t I have spider reflexes? My powers are all fine and dandy but-
And that's when I see them,
They're choking the streets, dozens, if not hundreds of brightly colored bodies, their suits shredded, and their bloody mangled corpses half eaten by concrete and rubble. I can see the pools of blood around them, I can see their limbs snapped at violent angles, I can see the shreds where their flesh has been lacerated, the meat ripped apart like broken bread.
They look like me.
They, they look like Crab.
They look so much like Crab.
I’m going to be sick.
I can feel my eyes bulge as I tense against the inevitable. C’mon C’mon, let’s get it together, no vomiting in the mask.
I can feel it now, panic overtaking my body, my limbs, insulated through my DNA and powered by adrenaline, have been able to resist the cold, but now they shake with fear. I can feel my stomach contracting.
Oh, this is a big no-no, but screw it.
I quickly rip off the mask exposing my face to the world and vomit onto the concrete.
Okay, Okay, nobody saw that. I slip my mask back on. The smell is rancid.
And they’re back again. The ruthless images I see in my mind.
I can't get them to stop playing on a loop. When they appear It feels like jolts shoot up the sides of my skull, lightning like liquid fire.
They’re fast, but each one is like a punch and my body seizes up, my muscles tensing against something that's not even real. At least some of them aren’t. Regardless, they shouldn’t be able to hurt me now, to make me cringe with such violence.
Sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s Crab, but I see blood. My body fights against the thoughts that keep leaping into my view, but it’s a loosing battle. I’m paralyzed, lying here, what I see in my head blocking out all the real visuals around me, the gray sky is now covered in blood. My heart is racing, and breathing becomes short.
I need to get my head in the game, but I can’t see straight.
There’s a big bad out here, is he the one who is killing all of them? He clearly has a type. Can you think one coherent thought?
More flashes pounce on me, relentless. My eyes scrunch, as though shutting out the real world will lessen the blows of my imagined persecutors. “Quiet!” I internally shout at them, though they make no sound. I shake my head, willing the pictures to fall out onto the concrete and to stop nipping at my brain. After being shrouded in the darkness of my closed eyes, they’re all the more vibrant, but I am able to slow my breathing, and with each exhale, I swim through the blackness of my mind, further and further away from these blood-streaked thoughts.
It’s go time.
I roll over onto my stomach, and - very shakily - stand up, my stomach sloshing into place. I hit my cheeks a few times, willing myself back into stability, but my head still feels foggy, my body lighter than usual, as if my soul is floating away from my flesh, detaching itself from the bone. It’s that feeling of living a couple of degrees off of reality. I’m used to it by now, and it’s kind of relieving to have something that I can count on. I know the cycle will always lead back to this. I breathe in and out.
Now, lets take down big bad.
But first,
My eyes drift down to the colors below.
More images.
This guy can kill me, and I can still do some good down there.
I should check for survivors.