“Dad, the Superstate prognosticators, mom made a mistake! Alexa is innocent! You have to help me! They are wrong to sentence my friend for one hundred thousand years!”

“Son, you worry far too much. It’s much less than that in real life and she won’t remember all of the years anyway. The stasis will help her become a better person. It’s perfectly safe. Not a single person died in it. She’ll be perfectly fine and back to you in no time at all and you’ll hang out and go to the arcade.”

“Dad, just listen. I’m awake and… I don’t want to be a hero anymore.”

“Nonsense! You’ve been signed up for a spot in the academy since you were born. Our family is generations upon generations of heroes. You’re just having a rebellious phase; I knew it would come to this sooner or later. This is perfectly normal, hormones and whatnot. Why, I remember when I was a teenager and I...”

His dad wasn’t listening. Martin turned around and walked out of the living room.

[Spiderbro? Are you still there?] He thought to himself.

[Yes, boss. Always.]

[I haven’t heard much from you in a while. I was beginning to get worried.]

[Ah yes. The trip to my homeworld had stripped off my individuality and I became a mere song in the background of your mind, entirely synched to your own thoughts. Not a good time, I would say. 0/5 stars.]

[Are you channeling Alexa? I miss her.]

[I am well aware that you do. You do not stop thinking about her.]

[Can we reach her in stasis?] Martin thought with a bit of hope.

[No. Her body along with Tickles has been suspended somehow while her mind has been digitized to experience life a million times faster than normal. I do not believe that she will survive this experience. As I understand from her letter, there is a secret organization out there that controls the Superstate. From what she wrote I deduce that they will attempt to attack her while she is in stasis.]

[Thanks for being positive.] Martin frowned.

[She will likely not remember you when she emerges from the simulation. She will either become an entirely new person or a mindless puppet for us to wield. Perhaps you should have made a backup of her personality if you care about her so much.]

[Well it’s too late for that, damn it!]

[I find that hanging out with her is detrimental to our continuous survival. She seems to draw danger to herself on purpose as means of using said danger to manipulate and influence others. It would be far beneficial for us if she became a vegetable while in stasis. Also, consider eating more vegetables while we are on this subject. There is not enough in your diet. You need to grow big and strong for my continuous reprodu…]

Martin muted Spiderbro. These thoughts of vegetables and making more brain spiders weren’t putting him in a good mood. The current amount of spiders under his control was already making him feel like some sort of a hive mind and not a human being. Power held a lot of influence over people, Martin knew. Ember did not start out as the butcher of humanity. Her ability of killing people and unkilling them, making copies of herself and ending them had made her lose all empathy.

[Are you thinking of me? Please stop. Let me lament in peace.] Ember mind texted from her room.

[You can’t hang out in your room forever, Em.]

[It’s called depression, Martin.] Ember responded, sending a whole slew of negative feelings his way.

Martin instinctively reached out for Cottie as his shield.

[I’m not your shield, Martin.] Cottie seemed frustrated. Regardless of what she said, she immediately sent Martin a bunch of serene memories. [I’ve done whatever I can through the Equalizer order, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. The Superstate isn’t buckling. I’m about to consider the final option.]

[Final option?]

[Becoming an outlaw. Killing supers until they free her. There is already someone who deserves it.]

[You would do that for her?] Martin and Ember thought in unison.

[She had shown me the world for what it is. Full of liars and monsters. There is a monster out there which we must end. Mr. Canard. It’s his fault that she was taken. His testimony has doomed her.]

[Great. Now we have an unstable Equalizer on our hands who doesn’t believe in following the orders of Equality.] Ember commented.

[Enough!] Cottie snapped. [If we are to share mental communion, ex-hero, then we WILL work as a team, so help me! I’ve had enough of listening to your useless moping! It’s incredibly distracting! Let me in please. NOW!]

Martin blinked. He felt that Cottie was standing outside of their house. He rushed to the front door, letting her in. She looked extremely dishevelled, like she hadn’t slept or rested at all. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face was askew with frustration.

[You…] Martin looked at the exhausted-looking Equalizer.

[I don’t give a damn what I look like! There’s no point to being presentable! There are no gods above me!] She shot back.

[Oh wow, an angry Equalizer. This is new.] Ember drawled from her room.

Cottie slid past Martin, rushing upstairs, gray cloak fluttering. Martin was impressed how quickly she could move in her armor.

A carbon fiber steel boot shot up in the air, armor clinking at the knee. Then the boot came down upon the door of Ember’s room.

“EEeeeeeek!” Ember yelped as her door flew off its hinges with a bang, door lock shattering right through the frame with splinters ricocheting all over.

Cottie marched into the room, grabbed Ember by her red hair and began to drag her out of her blanket fort, revealing that the ex-hero was wearing a set of pink pajamas that were now far too large for her.

“Help me, she’s crazy!” Ember cried. Martin idly noted that her pajamas featured kittens playing with strawberries on them.

[I’ve had enough of your endless self pity!] Cottie shook Ember. [I’ve had enough of enduring your pointless suffering. Same thing over and over and over whether you’re asleep or awake! Snap out of it!]

“Eeeeee!” Ember squealed indignantly. A hand slapped her face leaving an imprint. Martin retreated from the anger of the Equalizer.

Ember blinked, eyes filled with tears. She was about to yell for dad to help her. Cottie spun around and kicked at the window lock, flinging the double window open. Ember opened her mouth and then a blinding nuclear explosion entered into her mind. A city burned, ashes rained from the sky. A girl grabbed a metal straw and flung herself into the bathtub.

Cottie’s hands wrapped around Ember as she was momentarily blinded, confused by the brute-forced memory. She lifted the ex-hero, pijamas and all and flung her out of the window.

“EeeeeeeeeeeeEEEee!” Ember screamed and she flew down from the second floor onto the immaculate lawn.

[What the shit?!] Martin reasserted control, vanishing the vision of the burning city out of his head.

[Both of you are sitting around moping, while there’s still a self-replicating monster from the future out there, may I remind you?! Yes, I know everything! I’ve been sorting through your recent memories!] Cottie shouted in his head. [As I cannot shut off the connection to your mind, I am forced to disrupt your state of being with physical force. Out you go!]

She grabbed Martin and flung him right out of the window right after Ember. Somehow Martin knew exactly what to do. Cottie didn’t want to hurt them, only to make them get out of the house. He rolled upon landing, sliding on the grass. Ember had been mostly uninjured too. She landed on her back and was now lying face up in the grass.

[This is really impressive. Alexa isn’t even here, yet she’s still managing to hurt me through the Equalizer.] Ember whimpered, rubbing her butt. [You could have at least let me get dressed.] She winced.

[Would you have gotten dressed?] Cottie inquired as she landed on the grass besides them with a clang, cape flying up.

[Nope. I would have called the cops. You’re mental.] Ember shook her head.

[That's what I thought. A hero calling the cops. Very impressive.] Cottie swung an arm at Ember. [Defend yourself!]

“Whaat?! ...Eeeek!” Ember rolled, lifting a hand to avoid being smacked by Cottie.

[I’m going to remind you something.] Cottie kicked Ember in the butt. [Defend yourself!]

“Eeeeeerghhh!” Ember yelled, unable to escape from Cottie’s attack.

Martin considered stopping Cottie by taking control of her.

[Do not interrupt me.] The Equalizer thought at him. [She needs this].

Martin realised that Cottie was already taking it easy on Ember. If she wanted to hurt his sister, her bones would already be broken. As it went, Ember was slowly knocking more and more of Cottie’s attacks away by swinging her own arms and legs. Ember remembered being a hero, remembered her training.

[See? You are still alive!] The paladin of Equality stood over panting, bruised Ember.

[Alexa brought us together, tied us with this mental communion for a reason. In the future that no longer awaits us... we were powerful, but we were also wrong. We were being manipulated. We stood on different sides of the barricades. I was destined to execute you! Alexa had shown me that there is another way.]

"Manipulated by whom?" Ember muttered.

[I don't know.] Cottie replied.

"How do we know these mystery manipulators even exist?" Ember growled. "It could all be just another lie from Alexa, a way to control you two morons."

[Because she is a good person, Em.] Martin approached his sister. [She didn't bring her titan-skinwalker self into the present from 2424! All she asked of you is to be her older sister, a proper hero to guide her.]

Ember blinked. Martin was right. She had padded herself on the back for being the one responsible for stopping doomsday, but it really was Alexa who made the choice. Did Alexa really just want to be a hero? Was that her dastardly plan all along? To get into the academy? Villains like her couldn't possibly receive the invitation letter. You couldn't just apply to the Hero’s Academy, a citizen of the Superstate had to invite you, vouch for you, pay the bill, become your heroic guide and guardian.

Alexa had gotten a referral from hero Resonance and rid herself of her dad's control when all of the bracelets had vanished, including the one on her arm. Alexa had manipulated the cathedral supervillain holographic, Ember and the five heroes just to get a chance at the Academy! It was all an insanely elaborate plot to become a hero. Was Alexa some sort of a planning genius or just really good at grasping opportunities?

[Why had Alexa done all of this?] Ember thought.

A picture of Alexa's letter flashed into Ember's mind from Martin's memory.

[Read these words! Alexa didn't commit any crimes against the space citadel or against humanity, yet she was still sentenced for one hundred thousand years by those five fuckers, declared supervillain of the century by SNN! She hasn’t done a single fucking thing, didn’t hurt anyone! How do you not understand this?!] Martin glared at Ember, his hand itching to slap her too.

Ember drew inward, for the first time in her life afraid of her brother. She felt his anger not just in his words, but in his searing, blazing thoughts, in the power he held over her now via his brain spiders. For years, she had been the one with power and control over him... and now the situation had been reversed. All the tables in Ember’s life had been flipped upside down by Alexa.

[Look, I’m not going to hurt you. You’re my sister, Em. Yes, you were an absolute ass to me for years, but I still care for you. You’re my family.] Martin looked at the shaken girl. [Do you get it? Everything Alexa did wasn't just for my sake or Cottie's. It was for yours! She freed you from being Resonance, stopped you from heading down a dark path, gave you another chance at life! Take it, be a goddamn better person!]

[Alexa’s plotting to be a hero had failed her at the end... She was sentenced to Tartarus.] Ember thought. She knew exactly what Tartarus was like. She had donated her own digital ghost to run the sim as a long-term warden. It was a place that broke people down. An elaborate mental prison that dismantled villains. If 100k years wasn't enough to reeducate Alexa, the warden avatar had every right to simply increase the sentence to 200k, 1 million, 2 million years. It would only be a few more days or another week out in the real world. If Alexa resisted, the warden could simply reset the sim, wipe her mind over and over until there was nothing left of the villain’s original personality.

[Oh no. Why did I have to think of this? I really shouldn't have thought about this.] Ember looked up at Martin.

[You… You and the SCA! You sick fucks! I have posters of the Five in my room! I can’t believe it! I wanted to go up the fucking space elevator! I wanted to be a hero! Fucking hell!] Her brother’s rage was an inferno of power now. Ember saw it as a visual manifestation, a fractal web of shimmering energy over his head, reaching out to her. Ember felt Martin’s anger magnify, intensify, waves of it rolling over her, an extension of his power wrapping around her brain, able to wield or crush her at any moment like a bug. All he had to do was close his spider-hand and her brain would be pulverised, shredded by the tendrils of the spider like a vegetable within a Dice and Slice chopper.

[Please don’t hurt me.] Ember cried as Martin’s power overwhelmed her. [I didn’t know! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!]

[Of course you knew! You are a fucking warden! Alexa had been right all along! The ghost of Resonance is still up there, doing God knows what to my friend in that depraved fucking prison of yours! You do not deserve my pity nor my compassion! You knew exactly what you were doing! You and all the heroes up there are all imbeciles wielded, corrupted, twisted by power!] Martin’s hand shot up at Titanomachy. If he could, he would bring the station down from the sky himself now. He was enraged more and more by Ember’s revelations.

Ember looked upon Martin and she saw in him all the things that she once had been - a demon, a vengeful spirit, a god that could end her life with a thought. If Ember’s dumbass copy hurt Alexa in the sim - and Ember knew that she would - Martin could find a thousand ways to dismantle Ember here. He could make her walk into traffic over and over. He could make her drown herself in a bathtub. He could kill her slowly, make her eat lard until she weighed 500 pounds and died from a heart attack. He could make her cover herself in honey and stand in the middle of an anthill for hours. He could make her do extremely embarrassing things. He could read her mind with his puppeteer power, know exactly what her fears are and use them against her in all sorts of terrifying scenarios. There was no end to what Martin could do with Ember when Alexa became a vegetable and lost her personality in the sim.

[You sick, disgusting fuck! What is wrong with you?!] Martin’s power enveloped Ember further, in an attempt to silence her unending stream of nightmarish scenarios of what she would do to herself if she had Martin’s power. The more Martin saw, the angrier he became with Ember. In mere minutes Ember had imagined a hundred hellish ideas, a hundred of ways to hurt and dismantle a person. How much suffering could her copy inflict on Alexa in the sim, once she got to know her over a thousand lifetimes?

Cottie put her hands on Martin and Ember. [Calm.]

View of unending mountains, of frozen rivers and valleys stretching into the distance behind her.

A blue lake beneath the ice-capped peaks. A girl running, leaping across azure icebergs that have broken away from the great glacier wall. Her will is unbendable. Determination and focus drive her onwards. Frosty air on her breath, nothing but ice beneath her feet. One slip and she could fall into the depths of the blue lake. She does not fall, does not slip. Metal claws on her feet keep her steady on the ice, claws on her hands for when she reaches the glacier and makes her way up it.

The glacier looms ahead, a labyrinth of ice formations betwixt mountain peaks, death for the unprepared and uncautious, death from frostbite if she slows down, death if she slips into one of the crevasses and never sees the light of day. She can do this. She will not fail. If she passes this test, she will stand above the supers. She will find and wield a void weapon hidden within the glacier. She will avenge her family, her friends, her city wiped away by waves of fire. She will become death itself. She will sacrifice her life if need be. She will stop the future butcher of humanity, Admiral Resonance. She will make her verse a reality, will play her part in the prophecy to save millions of lives.

Cottie let go of Ember and Martin.

[Apart we are broken and weak. Together we are strong. Together we can change, fix this broken world as Alexa would have wanted. If she loses herself to the nightmare of the simulation, we will help her find herself, restore her. There's bits of Alexa in every one of us now, I am sure of this. We WILL find a way to help her.] Cottie offered the siblings her hands and they took them.

[Lets go, find Mr. Canard and end the monster within him. The Superstate will bend, will free her once I declare what I intend to do. The gods in the sky will know true fear once I execute one of them without an order from Equality.] Cottie concluded. She looked up at the ring of Titanomachy with the same unyielding bravery with which she had conquered the glacier.

She was not afraid of the supers. She would not serve Equality anymore. She was a free Equalizer, a power to be reckoned with. Nobody would take Eva away from her.

"I will not stop! Do you hear me? I will kill every super on the planet for her!" She yelled, looked directly into the eyes in the sky. Let the future seers see her, let them know, let them tremble in fear. She will stop at nothing to set her friend free.