A ring of endless Ember-shaped ghosts rushed all around the four teenagers, looking like a half-sphere of constantly shifting aurora borealis. From the vantage point of the skinwalkers it looked like a sphere of brilliant light that was somehow constantly knocking them away, keeping them apart from their prey.

Hero Resonance never had to push herself so much in her entire life. Two years as an Academy novitiate and a few months as a licensed hero did nothing to prepare her for this awful nightmare. She only graduated from the academy and became a licensed Hero 3 months ago. Being an agent was about hiding in plain sight and infiltratration, not about using brute strength to the point of exhaustion. She wasn’t a tank!

Sure, there were fighting simulations at the Hero Academy such as being shot by tennis balls, bullets and lasers from all directions but this… this was nothing like that. This was far more challenging than trying to stop incoming machine gun fire. These long-limbed monstrosities were seemingly invincible, varied in shape, speed, could stretch at will and just kept on increasing in numbers like cockroaches. She might have done something more if she was dressed in her power armour, but she was wearing gym clothes of all the things! She expected to mentally dismantle a 14 year old supervillain with no known physical powers and possibly counsel or influence a retired super gym teacher to pull him out of whatever depression he was going through, not fight a thousand unkillable monsters amidst post-apocalyptic ruins of Saint Mary!

The Equalizer’s terrifying gun punched holes in the monsters, but did not put them down. They simply shrugged, slowly stood up and attacked again, holes and all. It was as if the things had no blood, no vital organs to damage.

Ember was beginning to break down, she never had to face so many powerful enemies all at once, coming from every direction. Her power couldn't kill, couldn't end these monsters! She broke their limbs and they simply used other limbs or switched joints! These things felt no pain, had no fear of her! She was only able to fling them away. Soon enough each new action, each new ghostly copy started to take something from her, chipping at her resolve, draining her strength.

Just three minutes of this unending hell left her panting, her face dripping with sweat, her eyes blood-shot red and covered in bursting capillaries. By the fourth minute she started to weep softly, knowing that she was about to break, but unable to stop. She had to defend her brother from these things! She had to survive! She graduated at the top of her class, she was always the strongest, the most capable and felt that she was an invincible, all-powerful goddess within her circle of five meters space. The dead city of monsters had shattered this illusion of personal might, reducing her to a mere terrified, desperate, mortal girl.

“I can’t do this anymore! I can’t keep this up! There’s too many! I’m sorry!” She cried, swaying and nearly falling over. Cottie stepped over to Ember, and held her up. The sky limbs had finished their demolition of the gimnasium, turning towards the group.

“Eureka! I’ve got it!” Alexa finally announced, grabbing Martin’s face. “Kiss me!”

“What?!” Both Martin and Ember yelled at the same time, eyes bulging in shock at her declaration.

“Break a bit off your brain-spider and feed it to me!”

“What brain spider?! What the Fuck!?” Ember yelled.

“Shh. You’re delusional from making too many copies of yourself. There are no brain spiders in Martin.” Alexa said.

“You put brain spiders into my brother?! I’ll fucking kill you, I swear!!!!!” The carousel of Ember-ghosts around them started to break apart, leaving gaps.

Martin understood. If they all had skinwalker shards within them, maybe the other skinwalkers would stop seeing them all as targets to be cleansed. He closed his eyes, focusing inward on his Spiderbro shard, disconnecting a bit of the skinwalker.

“Is it ready? Let Cottie know if you can’t control it while it’s inside me so she can shoot me in the head!” Alexa yelled, leaning towards Martin's mouth.

“Nooooooooooo! Somebody stop her! God!” Ember wailed, held back by Cottie.

This was not happening! Her brother did not just kiss a God-damned supervillain! Ember had no strength left to fight off the Equalizer, no choice but to keep up the endless shield of her copies all around them, lest the abominable monsters break through and end her and Martin.

Contrary to what Ember must have imagined as she was looking at the world through burning, tear-streaked eyes, Alexa did not kiss Martin. She merely leaned close to his face and opened her mouth like a fish. Martin opened his mouth in turn and a smaller copy of Spiderbro, leapt from his tongue into Alexa’s palette, quickly carving a path towards her brain.

Only some distant part of Martin's mind was paying attention to Ember’s ridiculous screaming as most of his brain was preoccupied with controlling two spiders and carving two more shards out of Spiderbro, imbuing them with consciousness and limbs.

“Ehhhhrhhh! This tickles something unwholesome! No stabby the important bits pls!” Alexa yelped. “Welcome to my brain, Spidersis! I’ma call you Tickles!”

Martin sighed in relief. He could still control the tiny skinwalker in Alexa’s brain.

“Your turn for a kiss of doom! Get your brainspooder while supplies last!” Alexa shoved Cottie at Martin, grabbing Ember in her stead.

“You are a monster! You’ve set all of this up!” Ember wept, blearily watching as the Equalizer seemingly kissed her brother. She had no strength left to hold herself up. Her avatars could barely see now. Her power had already reached past its limits and was now draining life from her body. Inner light began to fade from her golden eyes. Her orange hair dimmed to a dark red.

“Okay, now you!” Alexa shoved Ember towards her brother. In that instance Ember’s power ran out. An explosion of sparkling fractal fire detonated in her head and she fainted upon seeing her brother’s opening mouth, the shield of power protecting them flickering out of existence.

. . .

Alexa watched as the final spider leapt into Ember’s open mouth as she fainted.

“THINK, REPEAT AFTER ME! UNITY! ACCEPTANCE! INFECT! CONSUME! MULTIPLY! PROPAGATE!” Alexa yelled.

“...consume, multiply, propagate.” Cottie droned.

“...multiply, propagate.” Martin repeated, holding his passed-out sister and thinking the same thing with all of his spider-children. Yes, Spiderbro was a mother now. Wait, no. Focus. Propagate. Multiply.

The hands coming from the sky froze right above them, moving slightly up and down in seeming contemplation.

One of Ember’s tear-streaked eyes opened. “...pRopAgate,” She muttered with a hissy rumble. Martin felt awful about controlling his sister like that, felt that he was turning into a monster himself, yet he could not stop. He had to keep the charade going. Had to be one of them to survive.

The mob of black, glistening monsters slowed just as they were about to strike down the humans with their jaggedy, sharp limbs.

[Propagate. Multiply.] Spiderbro and his children sang, joining the endless chorus that resonated across the dead planet. The multitude of abominations began to part, smaller ones skittering away. Martin exhaled. He did it! He saved them all!

Thumps of enormous legs resounded in the distance, across the desolate roadside. Martin raised his eyes. It was the gargantuan skinwalker, Mr. Noodles. A shawl of human skins rasped as it moved.

Martin suddenly felt, knew that all it wanted was to peel off their flesh. It was somehow off, not just bigger and stronger but more clear in its wants, its song discordant. Why? How? Martin tried to look inside Mr. Noodles, past its exoskeleton. He saw its nebulous construct, filled with myriads of twinkling silver stars. The stars in the center of its head were tinted with shades of red! It was different! Martin panicked.

[Give me their skins, little one.] Mr. Noodles sang into Martin’s mind, drawing closer, its voice becoming far clearer.

[MINE!] Martin answered, via Spiderbro. [PROPAGATE. MULTIPLY]

[Give it to me. I desire its flesh.]

“Oh sheeeet. It’s the skin tax collector.” Alexa muttered.

[I will take what I want.] Mr. Noodles extended a limb, about to strike Martin down.

[NO. Mine! I use what is mine!] Martin sang, trying to make the big skinwalker leave them alone. He made Cottie raise her gun, aiming for the spot of colors in the head of Mr. Noodles. Cottie fired Eva, the gun punching through the head of the enormous monstrosity. Mr. Noodles swayed. The shot had taken some of the colors from its head, but it was only temporary. Other stars in its head became tinted red, as it reorganized its thoughts towards the same want.

[Give. Me. That. Flesh.]

Alexa pulled Martin and Ember under Cottie’s cloak.

“What are you doing?” Martin hissed.

“Hiding.” Alexa whispered. “I’m friggin scared. This asshat takes what he wants. Guns don't stop him.”

“How?” Martin groaned, making Cottie fire her gun at the source of the prevalent skin-taking thought in Mr. Noodles.

“Where’s that damn invisi-button?!” Alexa growled.

“What button? What?!” Martin looked at her, confused.

“I cannot press it. My arms won’t obey.” Cottie spoke, her voice shaking.

“M! Let go of C for a minute!” Alexa smacked Martin.

Martin stopped his control of Cottie’s arms and she pulled a gray, meshed hood over her face, reached into clothes and pressed something within. Martin heard a deep hum within the Equalizer’s power armor. It sounded like a miniature fusion battery.

Through the eyes of the skinwalker crowd still surrounding them, Martin saw Cottie. She looked ridiculous, gray hood was covering her face, cloak bulging with the figures of the four humans inside it. The cloak suddenly flashed a multitude of colors and Cottie vanished. Completely. As if she never existed at all.

Martin’s mouth flopped open. The Equalizer Enforcers had super-designed invisibility cloaks. That’s how they snuck up on supervillains! It all made sense now. Martin couldn't even remember where exactly she stood priorly. The cloak was doing something screwy with the act of perception itself, erasing information about it and whatever it had covered up out of the universe.

[Where are my skins?] Mr. Noodles complained. [Give me back my skins and flesh tasties!]

The limb that was reaching out to Martin struck down the nearest skinwalker in agitation.

Martin glanced at Alexa who was clinging to Cottie beneath the cloak. She was shivering ever so slightly, clearly terrified of the big, independent skinwalker. She didn’t like being so close to Mr. Noodles. He was an aberration that wanted to skin people, not just use them as a resource for the endless process of self-replication. If Cottie had an invisibility cloak all this time then why didn’t they use it earlier?

[Uhh… I didn’t know if it worked against these things, sorry.] Cottie thought.

[Wait. I can hear you.] Martin responded.

[We can all hear each other’s direct thoughts, you dummy. We got the same brain-spooder brand walkie-talkie™] Alexa’s thought cut into Martin’s mind.

[Oh my God they can hear my thoughts. What have I done? Why have I done this?] Martin thought. [Does she know…]

[Stop thinking so loud or you’ll blow a spider.] Alexa broadcasted back. [And no need to worry, I already know everything about everything!]

[Oh my God, she knows everything! Why did I give her my brain-spiders?] Martin turned red.

Alexa started to giggle deviously in her head. Martin scrambled to mute his thoughts to stop broadcasting them out to the girls before he thought something dumb or extermely embarassing. He knew that he could easily control Alexa now, but he felt that she was the one puppeteering him with her social hacking. If she knew that Cottie’s cloak could hide them, why didn’t she just ask Cottie to become invisible right away? Was it part of her sinister plan to make Martin give her and the others brain spiders? Did she depower, break down his sister on purpose?! Martin stumbled over his own thoughts, trying to second guess Alexa’s motives and future plots.

[Where are you, you little shard? I can hear you but I cannot see you. Come out and give me their skins!] Mr. Noodles insisted.