The air was alive. With every screech it shook more violently than the last, thunderous booms of noise shaping the air. Flashes of green of exploded outwards all around as horrible laughter. There was dust everywhere. Erica couldn’t tell whether it came from inside or outside the building. She was in too much pain.

  Another flash of green, a burst of heat, and then more debris rained over her. Debris from above. She glanced up, struggling to see through the cloud of. There was a hole in the, the glowing green of the sky revealed. The building partially collapsed.

  Oh, she thought. That’s what fell on me.

  She looked to the rest of the debris, blinking slowly as she moved a hand to her now aching head. Slowly she turned, some of the debris atop her shifting as pain lanced through her legs. She cursed, grabbing a hold of her leg at the knee, her breaths haggard. Her shin felt both impossibly warm and impossibly cold at the same time, and as she became more cognizant her surroundings seemed to shift,

  “Stop! Fucking stop you cretin! Stop!” the green glider cried in a desperate craze. “You’re ruining everything! Stop! Listen to me! STOP!”

  More screams echoed out as the flashes of green grew more frequent, the last of the glass blowing inwards. Erica cried out, falling hard with a gasp. She lay there for a moment before wincing as she attempted to right herself.

  The street flashed green and another explosion rocked the building. Unimaginable pain shot through her, and she crashed to the ground in a spray of glass, the rock shifting over her leg. She sobbed clutching at her leg before Smoke beginning to pour from below.

  “No” she muttered, grasping desperately at the debris. But she couldn’t. The pain was far too much. Even if she freed herself, even if the fight didn’t obliterate the building, she wasn’t faster than fire, even with a . It would catch her and she would die.

  “Oh god” she mumbled.

  She looked to the floor, clutching the tattered floorboards with a desperate hand.

  She’d known how quickly death could come, in a world like this more people did than didn’t. But she was only just now realising she hadn’t felt it. Not truly. She’d forgotten the feeling somewhere along the way. Maybe to try and live normally, to just be, without the shadow of her parents hanging over everything she did. But she remembered now. She remembered so clearly the frailty of her own life. The insignificance of her own mortality.

  She let out a cough, her entire body trembling as the building shook again.

  Still, she couldn’t quite believe it. There was so much more. So many things she’d wanted to say. To share. So many regrets she’d wanted to make up for. Especially with Lucas. It’d become so clear now, the culmination of half formed thoughts built up since the summer. But he’d only gotten further and further away. It was so strange. Realising he wasn’t a kid anymore. Realising he had his own wants, desires, things greater than just childhood whims. It’d been better with Maria. But she supposed she’d allowed herself to think that way, simply because it had been easier. But they were adults now or becoming adults at least.

  They were leaving her behind. And she was proud, of all of them. So proud in so many ways. But it hurt too. Not just knowing they were leaving her but also seeing what beginning this new chapter of their lives had done to them. She’d raised them made sure they’d done well in school, done everything necessary to get degrees, take advantage of all the gifts their parents had given them. But she didn’t know if she’d prepared them properly for adulthood. They’d all dealt with the accident differently. She’d assumed success meant a good degree from a good college. But there was so much more than that. So much she’d missed.

  But then again, she’d been a child of sorts too.

  She let out another cough, bile rising in the back of her throat as the smoke in the room thickened.

  She wanted to talk to them about it. About their lives, their relationships, their wants, their passions. She wanted to talk to them about everything

  And now it was too late.

  The screeches grew louder now, the crashes more violent as the whirring of the glider shot past again and again. Monsters were fighting outside. Terrible monsters.

  She grasped as the debris shifted, the building rumbling as a part of the floor collapsed. She cursed, flinching away as a sudden fear burst forth. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t stay here. She hadn’t let anything defeat her before. She couldn’t give up now. If she wanted to make things better, or even just try, she had to live. For all her siblings, and herself.

  She looked down to her leg. The explosion had knocked some of the brick free and dislodged some of the other debris. There was a gap now, and with the right pull she’d be able to free herself. It would hurt, beyond measure it would hurt, but then she would be free. With a newfound vigour she tore material from her sweater, biting down on it hard. With short and sharp breaths, she grabbed her leg right below the knee and looked away. She pulled and the pain was instant.

  But even as it radiated through her she ignored it, her newfound will unyielding. With a final effort, she gasped, pulling herself free of the debris, cursing as the mangled remains of her leg were dragged across the glass ridden floor.

  Pain radiated through her leg as the adrenaline of desperation faded, leaving her slumped against the floor, breaths shallow. Slowly she rolled over, then began desperately crawling across the room, away from the commotion outside. But the effort was slow, and bit by bit more smoke poured into the room, drowning out the air and her thoughts.

  “B-big Sis!” a voice suddenly cried out. Erica looked ahead as the door to the apartment rattled, caught in the warped frame.

  “M-Maria?!” Erica shouted back, relief momentarily

  “Big sis?! Are you alright?! Are you hurt!?” Sofia shouted.

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  “What’re you doing here?! Go! The building’s on fire, go!” she coughed.

  “What? We can’t leave you!” Maria shouted

  “Are you hurt!?” Sofia said, kicking at the door again.

  “My leg’s broken” she coughed. “Go dammit, quickly.”

  She was met only with the chaos of outside and shrieks.

  Erica glanced behind her, to her two younger sisters, eyes wide.

  “You have to go” she muttered. “I- it’s ok”

  “No!” Sofia cried, kicking at the door again.

  “I should go! Run dammit!”

  The door shook again, more violently this time before it cracked, splintering. Sofia quickly leapt over the remaining lower half, eyes widening as she spotted her older sister.

  “Shit” Maria said, following closely behind.

  “Run” Erica muttered. “It’ll take too long to carry me. Go”

  Her sister’s rushed forward, quickly picking her up.

  “What’re you doing?” she muttered, tears streaming down her face. “I’ll slow you down.”

  “Don’t be stupid. We’re not leaving you” Maria said. The building shook again, violently, the sound of walls behind them crumbling. Erica cursed, then pressed forward hopping along as her sister’s held her.

  “Quick” she muttered. “If you’re gonna take me, let’s be quick.”

  “Alright” Sofia muttered “Let’s go.”

  -

  It was all going wrong.

  Maybe it always had been. He didn’t know. A part of him didn’t want to. It felt like if he became too introspective, thought about it for too long he’d find he was doomed to fail. Like the twisted hand of fate had marked him for failure.

  It sure felt that way.

  He spun, arcing around the monster as he bombarded it with another barrage of bombs, the creature realising another piercing screech.

  “Fall creature! Die!” he roared, hurling. He dodged another attack with a smooth spin, blasting it with a bomb as he backed away, cursing to himself.

  He couldn’t allow himself to get caught up in negativity. The symbiote was yet to hurt him yet. He’d beaten adversity before. It was simply another challenge, sent by the universe. Something to prove his worthiness.

  Yes, he thought, yes, this cretin is nothing. Just a blip in the tale of my success.

  He would beat it. He was better than everyone else, everything else. This was a monster of pure power and malice, an enhancing symbiote with a superhuman host. And he was winning. Yes, he was winning. It hadn’t so much as laid a scratch on him and he was tearing its body apart.

  He let loose a cackle, blasting it back with another barrage of bombs. He didn’t need to escape the creature. It was challenge ordained to him. A rite of passage. He had to defeat it. And so, he would. Like all things, he’d persevere and destroy it. No matter what fate had in the cards for him, he would surpass it. Greatness awaited him, not by some divine right, but his own hand.

  “You think you can ruin me?!” he roared. “My fists are the unyielding. My bombs the true decider of destiny! Die creature! DIE!”

  His hands moved faster, as he switched to the offensive. He threw his bombs in droves, using the pellets and mid-sized bombs with pinpoint as he snaked around the foul beast.

  And he cackled all the while. He was a genius. The beast a pathetic creature without a proper host, subject to torment at the hands of his anti-NE bombs. He hadn’t been certain at first, but now he was. Even in all his madness he was certain of this.

  He’d win.

  It didn’t matter if he had to blow up the whole neighbourhood. The hosts’ little brother was still out there. He’d destroy this failure here, find the boy and make a newer better beast. A creation a thousand times better than the ruin before him.

  He cackled maniacally. Everything would be ok. He’d win, and then they would listen. They would all listen and see.

  He spun around the creature again, before suddenly darting inwards with an incredible speed. The symbiote unhinged its maw and he spun around it, dropping one of the larger bombs in its mouth. The creature exploded in a burst of green and white light screeching as it crashed to the ground, thrashing around violently. He waited for it to recover, to pull itself. But it didn’t.

  His victory had arrived.

  With an incredible speed and dexterity, he primed all the higher-grade bombs, and began hurling them towards the creature below. The first exploded in a tower of light and fire, blowing apart part of the street. Then more followed. One, two, four, eight, sixteen he cackled, steadily going up the grades as he rained more and more fire upon the symbiote, the street below a well of light, heat and sound.

  As the light grew, so did his smile. He'd done it. He’d w-

  A web grabbed him yanking him back. His eyes widened, as he fumbled desperate, then a claw raked itself across his visor, shattering the glass into his face. He screamed as he fell, blinded as heat coursed through his face. Darkness spun all around him, the light of victory snatched away in its last moments. Then he crashed to the ground hard.

  He lay motionless for a second, his breath slow. Then he shifted, rolling off the hood of the car as he crashed to the floor, glass spraying him. He breathed heavy for a moment, a horrible pain wracking his body as his face burned hot. He was blind. Not from the glass, but something else.

  The claws.

  A horrible anger suddenly took him, his body trembling as he frothed at the mouth. Victory had been snatched from him by the claws of a false hero.

  “Spider-Man” he muttered, seething with a vicious anger as he clawed at his face. “SPIDER-MAN!”

  Then he heard it. The tick of a bomb. A larger one. One of the unreleased ones had activated. He froze, before a sudden laugh escaped his lips.

  Maybe fate had already dealt his hand.

  Then in a flash of heat, everything went white.

  -

  A massive boom echoed out across Brooklyn, the last of many, as Lucas landed in the wreck of his home. He covered his face, wafting away smoke as he moved forward. Heat wafted through the place, most things burned to a crisp from the raw heat of the explosions across the street, unrecognisable.

  There was nothing for him here. He couldn’t sense anything. No monster, no family, nothing. Only a few broken bodies and burnt, shattered homes.

  “No” he muttered. “No.”

  He cursed, running through the building, past a trail of blood and debris, as he rushed for the nearest bodies.

  Then he froze, stopping at a set of stairs. Three people moved down below. He leapt down to them and came to a stop above a pile of debris blocking of the stairs. His sisters stood struggling to help Erica over the wreck. Relief flood him and he landed down, quickly taking Erica into his arms. They looked up at him, and tears of relief instantly began trailing down Maria’s face.

  “Oh thank god” Sofia said falling to her knees. He webbed up his sister’s leg quickly, then blew a hole in the wall with a kick. “I’m sorry” he muttered. “I should’ve come sooner.”

  “It’s ok” Erica muttered, half asleep in his arms.

  “Ok. Ok” he mumbled back. “I’ll get you all to a hospital and-”

  The building shook again, unstable, and Lucas shook his head, regaining his sense of urgency.

  “Alright. Grab a hold of me” he muttered, “So we can swing out of here”

  The hairs on the back of his neck stood, as the building trembled once again, his senses zoning on the source. His heart skipped a beat. The fire he’d seen hadn’t been enough. The goblin hadn’t killed it. And it could sense him.

  The monster was coming.

  “Run” he muttered, quickly handing Erica to Maria.

  “What? Lucas wha-”

  “RUN!” he shouted spinning around. Then in an explosion of brick and metal the monster burst through the wall. Lucas roared, leaping forward and met the monster mid-air, the two crashing against the ceiling before slamming to the ground. Both were up in an instant, the monster cackling as

  “Perfect” the creature muttered, it’s tongue slithering as it smiled. “I think I’ll eat your head firssst.”

  Lucas was on the monster in an instant, kicking it back from his sister’s as they raced

  “DIE!” he roared, throwing the monster back hard. It smashed through brick and stone, as Lucas lunged after it.

  “Lucas!” Erica cried

  But he was already gone, trading blows with the beast.