The Spider

The Fist stood in the dim light of the alley, looking up at the woman standing on top of the police cruiser.

She

hated

the woman standing there. Hated being forced to chase this woman for weeks, being beaten for not finding her, made to go right out again. The Fist hated being made to feel like a worthless bitch for coming home empty handed, hated how

he

degraded her, how he hurt her for failing.

The Fist hated how

important

this Spider bitch was to the man who had enslaved her. She hated her Master's fixation with the Spider, how worthless and unimportant she was in comparison. Every day her Master demanded the Spider, every day he humiliated the Fist, beat her, fucked her until she screamed, made her lick his cum off the floor.

But

now

... now the Spider stood right in front of her.

The Fist glared up at the Spider, licking her lips in anticipation.

The only question was, how much would she be able to hurt the Spider? She knew her Master wanted the Spider alive for reasons that were not explained, but otherwise...

A broken arm, though?

Broken legs? Was it important for the Spider to ever walk again?

The Fist shrugged. See how it goes, she thought. Whatever happens, happens.

"Looks like you fell into my little trap, you stupid bitch," the Fist said. "I'm going to shatter you."

The Spider looked down at something on her utility belt, made a small adjustment.

"Actually," the Spider said. "You fell into

my

trap."

The Fist laughed.

"Whatever," she said. "You think that's going to hurt me? Guns don't hurt me.

Nothing

hurts me."

"Right," said the Spider, holding up a small gun-like device with a flared end. "Nothing can hurt you. I do have one question, though."

"I can't wait to drag you home to the Master, broken, crying. Fuck you

up."

"Can you hear me?"

"What?"

"I thought you could."

The Spider pulled a lever on the device, pointing it straight at the Fist.

The Fist shrieked, putting her hands up to her head, covering her ears. She screamed in agony stumbling, collapsing to her knees.

The Spider leapt off the roof of the squad car into the alley.

"What happened to her?" Richard asked, breathlessly running to the Spider's side.

"Sonic weapon," the Spider replied. "She's deaf for a while, probably in a lot of pain."

"Fuck."

"Right. Close your eyes right now, OK?"

Richard closed them.

The Fist struggled up to one knee, still holding her ears. She turned her head and vomited.

Finally, she got up to her feet, looking around the alley, her eyes wide open, chest heaving. The Fist shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and glared at the Spider.

Her eyes narrowed. She looked

pissed.

"Keep them closed," the Spider said, and pressed the button in her left palm. A small orb spewed out of the tube towards the Fist. The tall woman stepped backwards.

The orb exploded in front of the Fist's face, hot white hot, as bright as the sun for a brief second. Anna covered her eyes with her arm as the blinding light exploded from the orb.

The Fist stumbled backwards, falling onto her backside. She cried out in pain and surprise.

"Can I open them now?"

The Spider looked at Richard.

"You know, you really

can

go now," she told him. "She's blinded and deaf for a while. Now I just have to take her down, if I can. Get away if I can't. But you better take this chance to get out of here."

"Look out!" Richard jumped onto the Spider, bringing Anna down onto the wet concrete of the alley. Narrowly missing the couple, a blurred shape streaked over them and smashed into the brick wall.

The bricks exploded. The Fist pulled herself from the wreckage, standing up unevenly.

The Spider threw a long, flat disc onto the floor of the alley. As it landed, long blue lights began to erupt from it, spinning around in a random pattern, thickening and darkening as they spun.

The Spider looked at Richard.

"Those are weapons grade blue lasers," she told him. "If one of those gets into your eye, you will be blinded for a long, long time, probably forever. Burn your retina right out. She's blind now, and I'm going to keep her that way- she won't be able to concentrate on where I am if she's protecting her eyes.

The Spider fitted black goggles over her own eyes.

"I don't need my eyes to see in the dark. Her eyes are vulnerable, and if she can't see me, she can't fight me. You, get

out."

Richard took off running towards the police cruiser at the end of the alley.

The Fist punched the brick wall, grabbing at a couple of bricks. She threw them, randomly, the bricks exploding into the alley walls like bombs. The Fist screamed wordlessly, blind, deaf and enraged.

"You fucking bitch! I can't

see!

When I get my hands on you, I'm going to tear your arms off!"

The Spider leapt up into the air, silently landing on the railing of the fire escape. The Fist wiped her eyes with her hands, trying to wipe the blind spots from her eyes. All around her, the blue lasers spun and whipped.

Anna pointed her weapon at the Fist, focusing it as the Fist stumbled to her knee.

The Spider fired three more orbs. These were not blinding lights, however.

The explosives blew the Fist back into the wall, smashing her invulnerable body into brick and mortar, both coming down in a heap. The Spider shot another couple of explosives into the wall above where the Fist lay, stunned, bringing a large portion of the building down upon the woman.

The Spider watched as the powerful woman began to slowly crawl out from the wreckage.

"You can't hurt me!" the Fist screamed into the night.

She stood up to her tall height.

"Nothing can hurt me! I'm the Power!"

The strong woman forced her eyes open.

"I'm the Power!" she shrieked.

A blue laser sliced across her eye, bursting across her retina. The Fist screamed in pain, grabbing at her face, falling in a heap to the ground. She curled up in a tight ball.

"I'm the Power," she whispered to herself, rocking back and forth. "I

help

people."

The Spider approached, cautiously, her forearm and the weapon still pointing at the woman on the ground. The blue lasers danced all around the alley.

Richard snuck a look from the cab of the police cruiser.

The Spider crept closer to the woman. The Fist was curled up in a tight, fetal ball, sobbing, whispering to herself.

"Can you hear me?" the Spider asked her.

The woman said nothing, coughed, choked on a sob. Deep and erratic breathing.

"Can you hear me?"

"I... I can hear you."

"This is your one chance. I can help you."

"How?"

"I can get you out of here. Away from the Detective. Far away. While you are gone, I'll take care of him- make him disappear. No one will ever hear from him again. You'll never see him again. OK?"

"You can't do that- can you?"

"I can."

The Spider stood up, over the shattered woman.

"You won't be able to save me," the hurt woman said emotionlessly. "I know you would, if you could. I know. But there's nothing you can do. Nothing anyone can do."

She wiped her arm across her nose.

"I can't see out of my eye- will I ever be able to again?" the woman asked quietly, turning to sit up, keeping her head in her hands.

"I don't know. I don't think so," the Spider said.

"You hurt me," the Fist sobbed. "

He

hurt me. Ever since I came to this City, all anyone has done is hurt me."

"I'm sorry."

"I used to help people. I was a hero. I

saved

people."

"I know."

"Now I'm nothing. I never will be anything again."

"That's not true."

The Fist sniffed. A thin, weak smile played across her lips. She breathed in, deep, ragged. He shoulders slumped.

"It is, though," she said. "It's OK. I had a good run, right up until the very end."

She stood up, tall. She opened her eyes, looked around the alley.

"Don't do that," Anna said. "Don't open your eyes."

"It's OK," the Fist said. "I know what I'm doing. I finally do."

The blue lights spun around the alley, cold, dangerous.

"Don't look!" the Spider yelled. "Close your eyes!"

"It's OK. I can make it so I never am forced to hurt anyone again. I know what I have to do now. I never should have... never should have let it come to this."

The Fist stood there, her arms rigid at her side. Waiting.

"I can help you," Anna said weakly. She lowered her arm to her side, put her weapon down.

"Hey, do you know what?"

"What?"

"I came here as the Power.

He

captured me, made me a monster. He made me be the

Fist.

I hated being the Fist. But do you know what?"

"No."

"Sarah. My name is Sarah."

A thin smile played across her face. She laughed.

"My name is Sarah."

"Come with me, Sarah. I'm Anna. I can help you. You don't have to do this."

"Sorry, Anna. He'll just make me a monster again. Make me hurt people again. I can't live with that, and I know it'll happen."

A blue laser lacerated across Sarah's face. She screamed, and fell to her knees, an ear splitting shriek erupting from her lips. She vomited again, followed by a succession of ragged heaves. Her hands formed into claws, scratching at sightless eyes.

"Oh, god, it hurts."

Anna turned the blue laser lights off with her foot.

Richard got out of the police car, the wind blowing across his bare legs. He didn't notice the cold, just listening.

"Oh, Sarah," Anna said, only a whisper.

"It's OK," Sarah whispered. "I'm blind now. I'll never be able to hurt anyone ever again, even if I want to."

"OK."

Richard pulled his jacket tight against the cold, looking at his tormentor helpless on the pavement of the alley.

Anna and Richard watched as the woman stood on her feet. She looked up unseeing into the cold night sky.

"One last flight for the Power," Sarah said, and laughed as if there was a joke.

But there wasn't a joke.

Richard shrugged. He turned and made his way out of the alley, heading for home.

I've seen enough, he thought. Don't need to see the rest.

Anna watched as the Power knelt down, and flew straight up into the sky.

The Power flew higher, and higher, as high as she had ever gone, then higher still. The cold wind lashed across her face, freezing her tears. Her sightless eyes looked up, seeing nothing, but she didn't need to see where she was going, only going higher.

And

higher.

Bursting through clouds, ripping upwards as fast as she could propel herself, higher and faster than she had ever flown before.

She began to breathe faster, shallow gulps of breath, her lungs trying desperately to capture what little oxygen there was in the freezing cold as she began to fly beyond the earth's atmosphere. Her fingers went numb, then her toes.

Finally she could not feel her hands, or feet.

I helped a lot of people, she thought. I did a lot of good. The thought warmed her, or maybe there was just nothing left that could feel anything.

Her flying slowed. Her power of her trajectory kept her moving up, for a while. Down below her, dozens of miles, the earth was a beautiful blue and green orb, caressed by clouds, watered by the rains, like tears.

But she couldn't see any of it.

She would never see any of it again.

Finally, the last of her oxygen escaped her lungs, slipping out past blue lips, her lungs empty.

She remembered the first time she had ever saved anyone using her super strength. She remembered rushing into a burning building, her skin not feeling the heat, breaking down a door. She pictured the father's eyes glistening with tears as she handed him his daughter, recalled how it felt to save another human being, how she knew then and there that was what she was supposed to do with her life.

Help people.

Save

people.

It would be a comfort to think that those were her last memories, as she lost consciousness. It would be a comfort to think that she was at peace, as she opened her arms to embrace the light one last time, before drifting down to the planet below, her pain and struggle over now and forever.

******************************

Anna stood there, her goggles in her hand, looking up into the night sky. She scanned the horizon and the stars for a sight of the Fist-

Sarah-

but didn't see anything.

She pulled out her phone, and began looking at her messages.

Don't be angry when you get home,

Heather had written.

I let them in. It's time to talk. Time to figure out what we need to do, ALL of us.

What? Anna thought. Let

who

in? Talk about what?

She clicked on the phone, started dialing Heather's number.

"She's not coming back, is she?"

Anna spun around, dropping her phone. It clattered across the pavement of the alley.

A long arm snaked out towards Anna, in a blur, long fingers snapping shut around her throat. She felt herself lifted up off her feet, her legs kicking helplessly, looking into a pair of dead black eyes.

"That's a shame," he said, leaning his grotesquely long face in on his distended neck, peering at her. Anna kicked, and beat at his arm, but she was unable to break the grip of his fingers wrapped completely around her neck.

"I was growing used to having her around," the Detective said. "She wasn't much, but she was company of a kind. Maybe I should have told her that more than I did."

His face broke into an inhuman replica of what a smile had been.

He stretched out his long finger, and started drawing a line in the brick of the wall. Cold red fire began to leap from it as his finger dragged across the cold stone.

"But now I'll have you to keep me company, Spider," the Detective said. She began to kick and fight, but was powerless against his strength. He began to choke her harder, she could see spots in her eyelids as she began to lose consciousness.

"Come with me," he whispered, dragging her behind him on the ground as if she was a rag doll. "I imagine you have a lot of questions. I have the answers. I'll explain everything you need to know, little Spider, about the past."

He stepped into the burning red slit, pulling the Spider behind him.

"And what is going to be your future."

After a moment or two, the red slit sealed itself up.

The night was silent.