The Shimmering Spider-Woman! Issue #10

>Have you ever had a specific kind of dream?
>The kind where you just glide through it, like you're on rails and the world is just a green-screened tunnel?
>Like you don't have a thought in your head, you're going places and you don't quite know why
>Your name is Anon, and you are living that dream
>Leaving Oscorp, you push through the faceless crowd, doing your best not to break into a panic attack
>You should have driven your car, but you'd wanted to take as much time as possible before speaking to your father
>Stupid
>Selfish
>The same things that had gotten Sunset found out, lead your dad to her, led the Sinister Six to nearly...
>.... To nearly kill her
>...
>Your dad was right
>This was all your fault
>You need to get a hold of Sunny as soon as possible, tell her everything you'd learned, do anything to make sure she was okay
>Stepping off the sidewalk and into an alleyway, you dial her number, fingers punching at the screen of your phone sloppily
>It takes you two tries to get it right
>.....
>No answer
>You try again
>.....
>And again
>.....
"FUCK!"
>You start running again, cutting through side streets and taking probably illegal shortcuts
>The apartment
>She might still be back at the apartment
>You have to hope that she is, that she's just sleeping in bed again
>That she's safe

>It takes time, and more than a few close calls with gangs hiding in the alleyways
>One of which... had been a lot closer than you'd wanted
>Just a few more blocks, and you're home free...
>"Well, look who it is..."
"Oh god dammit!"
>Flash and his twin mistakes, Lefty and Righty
>They probably had name, family, hopes and dreams
>Right now you just wanted them to drop dead and take Flash down with them
>Your frustration seems to catch them off-guard, but Flash rebounds quickly, his goons taking their places on either side of you
>"What's the hurry, man? Got some place to be? Late for a date with Suns-?"
"Flash, I swear to god, I do NOT have time for this!"
>He shoots you a look, like a director looks at an actor who goes off-script
>"Then we'll skip to the good part."
>Thing 1 and Fuck 2 grab your arms and lift you off your feet
>And then Flash just starts wailing on you, punching your stomach and face
>It goes on for a little longer than you'd like
>Which is about zero seconds of beatdown, if you're being honest
>The whole time, Flash trash talks you, Sunset, his parents
>You think, halfheartedly, that he's working through some issues
>Good for him
>Eventually, his pair of gargoyles let you hit the pavement in a pool of tears, drool and blood
>You feel... not awesome
>Flash is still talking, but all you can think about is how much time you lost with these clowns
>Well, between the flashes of agony, that is
>You'd like to play at being some kind of badass, but you were really hurting
>It starts to storm as you lay there, sprawled out on the ground
>Because you're lucky

>But still, you get up
>You keep walking
>Sunset's life might depend on it
>You make your way, hobbled, bruised, and soaking wet, to the apartment complex
"Home sweet home..."
>Shaking with nervous energy, you push through your door
"Sunny?"
>....
"SUNSET!?"
>.....
>Nothing
>All you hear is the rumble of distant thunder and the relentless clatter of rainfall on the roof and window
"Dammit.."
>The apartment is empty, present company included
>But another look (she might have been hiding in the closet or under the bed, don't judge, you were panicking) revealed a note
>"brb, out saving the world, see you for dinner! <3"
>The whole thing was in Sunset's perfect handwriting, and the heart was a stylized version of her mask
>Any other time and you'd have found this cute, but you knew the truth
>Whatever Sunset was running into was going to be a massive trap, set by your father and his cronies
"FUCK!"
>Yeah, great, now how the fuck were you supposed to know where she was?
>Not like she has a bunch of constantly updating... online... stalkers...
>/sup/
>Yes!
>You bolt to your desk, kicking your chair out of the way instead of sitting down, logging in and checking for updates fervently
>This was it, you could find the place, drive to it, and warn her at the very least!
>Finally, you caught a break!
>.....
>The power dies

>You scream words that you don't entirely remember
>Might not have even been English
>Some kind of hellish, throat-ripping dialogue from caveman times
>Your cursing against God and his heaven is cut short when a flash of lightning lasts too long
>In fact... you don't think that was lightning at all
>Is... is someone aiming a flashlight at your window?
>It's getting brighter...
"What the fu-"
>That's when the wall exploded
>For a moment, you have a flashback to the school bus, when you'd first met Spider-Woman
>This situation is significantly more painful, you decide as you fly back and hit the wall
>The air is clouded with dust, rain and winds
>Lights flicker and spark as cables snap
>The lights that were shining through were window stab at your eyes
>You scramble to get to your feet, half-blind and aching, but something lifts you by your neck into the air
>And then it speaks
"I said you could leave, boy. I didn't say I was done with you."
>Your next thoughts are a whirlwind as that cold voice continues to choke you
>How?
>Why?
>Sunset?
>Dad?
>Sombra Osborn squeezes until you surrender to the darkness lurking at the edges of your vision
"You've still got a part to play."
"In the death of Spider-Woman."

>You're woken up the the rain on your face
>Slowly, you come to, blinking drowsily as you stare up at the cloudy night sky
>This is a nightmare...
>Recalling what exactly had just happened, you bolt upright, only to nearly fall of the edge of the...
>... bridge?
>How the fuck did you get on Friendship Bridge
>You look around for any sign of whatever had grabbed you, seeing only the night expanse and a view of Canterlot City, lit by street lights
>You can't hear it through the storm, but you know that far below you is the Hoofson River
>That's when you hear something else approaching
>A low, mechanical whine that gets closer
>Peering into the darkness, you finally see its origin
>It's... a bird on a plane?
>Wait, no...
>It's not a bird, or a plane...
>Twisting through the air is a small, flying wing, jutted with dangerous edges
>The drone that had been watching you...?
>But as weird as that is, the... person on top is much stranger
>Clad in toxic green, the figure is like something you had nightmares of as a kid,with a snarling smile and sickly yellow eyes
>And it's... coming right at you...
>Fuck.
>There's nowhere for you to go
>Okay... let's face this freak
>If they were going to kill you, they'd have done it
>Before long, they're hovering in front of you
>Their costume is even weirder up close; no seam, no armor, just... like it was skin...
>You speak up through the storm, hoping the wind doesn't snatch your words away
"Who are you, why am I here!"
>It takes a moment before that grinning maw answers you
"You're here because you're useful, son!"
>What...?
"Dad...?"
>He cuts you short with an ear-splitting cackle that hurts your ears
"In the flesh! And I've never! Felt! Better!"
>He stretches his arms out, the... suit, for lack of a better word, writhing and sprouting flailing tentacles as he does so, before reverting to a more humanoid face
>It's hard to look at him, a man you loathed all your life, turning himself into an unhinged monster
>And it's the happiest you've ever seen him
>Swallowing thickly, you fight to look him in his jaundiced, wild eyes
"I... I'm bait, aren't I...?"
"For Sunset...."

>There's that howling cackle again
>You'd never heard your father laugh, growing up
>When you were little, you'd tried just about anything to make him smile, to make him proud or happy
>Now you'd give anything to have never heard it at all
"For once in your life, you see the bigger picture.
>Sunset's smart, way smarter than you are
>She'll see that it's a trap
>She has too
"And if she doesn't come?"
>Please see the trap, Sunny...
"Hm... then I'll kill you and try again with one of her little friends"
>Please see-
>What did he just say?
"W-What...?"
>He didn't mean it...
"Of course. If the fish doesn't take the bate... get a new worm!"
>He thinks that's the funniest thing in the world
>All you hear is your father casually promise to kill you and then laugh about it
>This has to be a nightmare
>'THWIP!'
>No...
>'THWIP THWIP!'
>Please let this be a nightmare
>"Anon!"
>You don't have to turn to see her, but you do anyways
"Spider-Woman!"
>Your insane father is the first to react, keeping himself between the two of you
>"Give up and let the boy go, before this gets uglier than you already are!"
"No."

>With that, they dive towards each other, colliding in midair
>It's hard to keep track of, between your exhaustion, the threat of falling, and the dark rainfall
>But between splits of lightening and the lights from your dad's glider, you catch bits of their brawl
>It's... well, it's spectacular
>You'd be in a better mood to appreciate it if you weren't in danger of being murdered
>Still...
"Go, Sunset! Kick his green ass!"
>That feels nice to say
>Sombra's head snaps to glare at you in the middle of an aerial spiral, battering at Sunset as she clings to his back
>Ohshit
>You edge back until your heels hit open air
>Doublefuck
>You have enough time to see a pair of pronged knives deploy from the front of his glider with an inappropriately dainty 'shink' before he charges you
>There's no time to move
>So you don't
>The blades miss you by inches
>His clawed hand doesn't, catching you across the shoulder
>Sending
>You
>Off
>The
>Edge

>You fall, flipped onto your stomach as you scream through the night air
>You think you're screaming, maybe
>All you feel is the wind whip at your face, the rive getting closer
>If you could think logically, you'd know that a fall from this height and speed, the impact would be like leaping off a building onto the concrete
>'It'll kill you', you'd think
>But there's no logical thought
>The closest you get is
'Sunset... always catches me'

>'THWIP'

>And then you don't think anything